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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27954170">Fate/Dreamnotfound</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/dizzylocofool/pseuds/dizzylocofool'>dizzylocofool</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Angst with a Happy Ending, Enemies to Lovers, Explicit Language, Holy Grail War (Fate), M/M, Slow Burn, Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 10:20:13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>28,325</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27954170</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/dizzylocofool/pseuds/dizzylocofool</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“It’s not going to be that bad, right? I mean all I have to do is have my servant kill the other four masters and their servants. What could go possibly wrong? It’s not like the other masters, who are probably far better magi than I am, are all going to try and kill me.”</p>
<p>George Founder, a magi from a relatively weak family of magi, is competing in the Holy Grail War for a chance to make a wish. Although he may discover yet that the Grail won't be what grants his wish....</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Clay | Dream/GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF), Karl Jacobs/Sapnap, Toby Smith | Tubbo &amp; TommyInnit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>50</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>151</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Prelude to the War</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is a Fate/stay night AU, but I've written it in a way where (hopefully) everyone can follow what's happening and enjoy it. It's basically just a Holy Grail War involving your favorite MCYtubers.</p>
<p>For the Fate fans; I'm taking a few liberties with the rules of Fate, so please don't murder me in the comments :).</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Today’s the day…”</p>
<p>With a sigh George got up from his bed. After barely getting any sleep the night before, the boy struggled to walk properly. Once he reached his destination, his bathroom, he looked upon his reflection in the mirror. Aside from the usual bedhead and the bags under his eyes, George noticed his hands were trembling.</p>
<p>“Even after all these years I guess I’m still not ready for the Holy Grail War, huh?”</p>
<p>After taking a quick shower George made some breakfast for himself. As he sat down and began eating, he tried to fight off the anxiety creeping in the back of his mind.</p>
<p>“It’s not going to be that bad, right? I mean all I have to do is have my servant kill the other four masters and their servants. What could go possibly wrong? It’s not like the other masters, who are probably far better magi than I am, are all going to try and kill me.”</p>
<p>Realizing that his nervousness would only grow if he simply kept thinking about the Holy Grail War, the boy decided to start preparing the magic circle he would need by the end of the day to summon his servant. </p>
<p>“A servant is just a slightly stronger familiar, right? Sure, whoever I summon will be some legendary hero, but I should have enough mana to summon one and maintain him or her for the War. I have no idea who I’ll end up summoning, but hopefully they’re strong enough to take on the other masters and their servants.”</p>
<p>With the magic circle being finished, George went over the notes he wrote years ago on how he should go about winning the Holy Grail War. In his notes he read:</p>
<p>‘Goal: Kill the other four masters, who are magi, and their servants, familiars who are all legendary figures from history and myth.’</p>
<p>‘How: Summon my own servant with a catalyst and hope they can beat the ever living shit out of the others.’</p>
<p>‘Reward: If the other four servants all die, I can make my wish come true.’</p>
<p>“Is the chance to make any wish come true really worth taking four innocent lives? Well if he’s among those four I wouldn’t mind getting the chance to end the Taken bloodline, though.”</p>
<p>After memorizing the notes, George went to grab the catalyst he would need to summon his servant. Unfortunately, due to the financial issues of the Founder family, George wasn’t able to acquire an expensive catalyst for a specific, powerful Heroic Spirit. Luckily for him, a nearby museum was shut down a few months ago and some of their cheaper exhibits were sold at an auction. It was a very worn down guitar which apparently belonged to some old president or war hero from a faraway nation, though very little came up after George had begun investigating this particular hero. George had his doubts on whether or not this hero even existed, however he didn’t have much choice since this was the only catalyst he was able to acquire on time.</p>
<p>“I really hope this guy actually exists…”</p>
<p>With the guitar placed in the middle of the magic circle, the summoning ritual could now begin. Even with numerous insecurities and doubts clouding his mind, George began chanting.</p>
<p>“Let silver and steel be the essence.”<br/>
“Let stone and the archduke of contracts be the foundation.”<br/>
“Let black, blue, white and red be the colours I pay tribute to.”<br/>
“Let rise a wall against the wind that shall fall.”<br/>
“Let the four cardinal gates close.”<br/>
“Let the three-forked road from the crown reaching unto the Kingdom rotate.”<br/>
“Let it be declared now; your flesh shall serve under me, and my fate shall be with your sword.”<br/>
“Submit to the beckoning of the Holy Grail.”<br/>
“Answer, if you would submit to this will and this truth.”<br/>
“An oath shall be sworn here.”<br/>
“I shall attain all virtues of all of Heaven;”<br/>
“I shall have dominion over all evils of all of Hell.”<br/>
“From the Seventh Heaven, attended to by three great words of power,<br/>
come forth from the ring of restraint, protector of the holy balance!”</p>
<p>The living room was filled with a bright light for a moment. Quickly thereafter, the light faded, and standing before George was a tall man in a blue coat. He had brown hair and wore a pair of white pants, complimented by a red sash across his waist, and a matching white vest. In his hands he held a guitar which was identical to the catalyst that had been used for the summoning, although it was in pristine condition unlike said catalyst. George’s thoughts were interrupted when the man began to speak.</p>
<p>“Servant, Archer. I take it you’re my master then?”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. The trials to come</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>George was standing in stunned silence. He knew how to perform the summoning ritual, but to actually summon a servant? He couldn’t help but smile at his success, although he had noticed something was off.</p>
<p>“Archer? I thought you were president Soot?” </p>
<p>The man calling himself Archer was desperately trying to hold back his laughter. After composing himself he sat down on the couch in the living room. In a calm, soothing voice he responded to George.</p>
<p>“You aren’t familiar with the Holy Grail War, are you? Well, no matter, I guess I can explain some things. My real name is indeed Wilbur Soot, but my class is Archer.”</p>
<p>This only added to the confusion George was experiencing. Class? He had never heard of such a thing during his research on the Holy Grail War. Wilbur noticed this bewilderment and elaborated further.</p>
<p>“All of the servants in this War are divided into classes. A class is kind of like an indicator as to how that servant fights. An Archer like me prefers fighting over longer distances and is quite agile, but is among the physically weaker servants.”</p>
<p>“So you’re actually president Soot then?”</p>
<p>“Yeah, I would say ‘in the flesh’, but familiars like servants aren’t really made of flesh and blood. I would prefer it if you called me Archer though, we wouldn’t want our enemies to figure out my identity if we want to win the Grail. Once a servant’s identity is known, you can easily figure out their abilities and weaknesses by researching a bit about their legend.”</p>
<p>Upon hearing ‘enemies’ a frown made its way on George’s face. With his servant summoned, there really was no going back for him. He either made a wish upon the Grail after trampling upon the lives of the other masters and servants or he would die trying. George tried to follow the rest of Wilbur’s rambling in hopes of improving his odds at winning this War, even if it would only be a marginal increase.</p>
<p>“Archer isn’t the only class of course, one of our enemies will also be a Rider. A heroic spirit with a renowned mount. As you can imagine, mobility over long distances is their strong suit. They aren’t much of a threat if you manage to isolate or kill the mount though.”</p>
<p>“Berserkers are a class of madmen and lunatics who try to win every encounter through brute force. They’re usually the physically strongest servant, however their insanity can throw a wrench in their master’s plans.”</p>
<p>“One class I am pretty worried about is Assassin, as the name implies, they try to ambush and kill isolated and vulnerable targets. An inexperienced master such as yourself would be an easy target. They aren’t very good in a fair fight however.” </p>
<p>“Sabers may be the overall best servant to summon for any master. They are a jack of all trades class. Their agility is bested only by Archers, their wit is only surpassed by Assassins and their might is second only to Berserkers. This makes them very versatile in a Holy Grail War.”</p>
<p>Even though Wilbur had only been trying to help George by explaining the weaknesses of the other servants, he had only made George more anxious. </p>
<p>“So these monsters will all be after my head?”</p>
<p>“Well they’ll be after both our heads, but yes. Don’t worry though, as you may know from my legend, I’m quite familiar with fighting wars.”</p>
<p>George knew Wilbur was right, he had heard that his servant had won a seemingly unwinnable war back when the hero was alive. Wilbur was supposedly one of the best generals in the history of humankind. He seriously lucked out by managing to summon him with some worn-down old guitar.</p>
<p>“If I may be so bold master, may I be the one to lead us to victory? If I step out of line with my orders, you always have your command spells to force me to obey you anyways.”</p>
<p>Command spells? What the hell is a com-</p>
<p>Before George could finish his thought, he noticed a red marking on the back of his right hand. It looked like an intricately designed crimson tattoo. </p>
<p>“That mark on your hand is proof that you’re my master. If you look closely, that tattoo is divided into three. You have three command spells which you can use at any time to force me to obey your next command, regardless of how I feel about said order.”</p>
<p>“Really? All right then, it only makes sense for you to give out orders for now. What should we do first then, Wil-, Archer?”</p>
<p>“Let’s scope out our battlefield. Servants can only stay manifested within a certain radius of the Grail. While I do not know where the Grail will appear once we win, I can feel that this radius covers this entire city. We should find a vantage point to scout out the kingdom.”</p>
<p>“There’s an abandoned tower that once belonged to another family of magi on the outskirts of Atlasia. That should suffice, I think. I’ll bring along my flasks just in case we run into someone on the way.”</p>
<p>“Your family specializes in alchemy? I doubt you even need me to kill a servant then.”</p>
<p>George felt a tiny bit of pride after hearing his servant’s compliment, even if he knew it was most likely untrue. From the little information he had managed to find about the Holy Grail War, he had gathered that even the weakest servants are far stronger, faster and intelligent than humans. These were all legendary heroes after all. With a small smile, he left his house with Archer by his side and they made their way to the tower.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Next chapter should be out later today, and don't worry we'll get some action s o o n.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Terminal Velocity</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>First action scene of (hopefully) many.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>After a long, arduous climb to the top, the boy and his servant were met with a beautiful sight. They really could see all of Atlasia from the top of the tower. George was mesmerized by those hundreds, no, thousands of lights coming from the homes of everyone in the kingdom, shining brightly despite the pitch black sky. Most beautiful of all however, was the massive full moon. Normally clouds would obstruct any good view of the moon, but the mage tower either had some spell woven in to prevent clouds from forming or was just higher than the clouds. George didn’t particularly care for the reason, he was simply stunned. Too stunned to notice a third person on the tower. The only thing that broke him out of his trance was a desperate shout from Archer.</p><p>“MASTER, LOOK OUT!”</p><p>George began to turn around when he heard the sound of metal clanging off of something. Because of the massive difference in the reaction times of servants and humans, Archer was forced to parry the blade heading straight for George’s head. After that parry, George saw him for the first time. A man in green robes complimented by a black haori, sandals and a bucket hat. If George had seen him any other time, he’d have thought it was just some person of no significance to him. However this man had clashed with his Archer, there was no doubt that standing before them was an enemy servant. Before George could grab a vial of harming to attack the enemy with, the servant began talking.</p><p>“I was hoping I could put you out of your misery before this War escalated, that is my specialty as an Assassin after all.”</p><p>“Assassin? You’re the weakest servant then, right? I bet you’d drop dead the moment I throw all of my flasks in your direction.”</p><p>George emptied the contents of his pouch into his hands. He was supposedly holding all of his flasks containing various dangerous elements. Wilbur shot George a knowing look, he had paid close attention to what George was bringing to the tower and knew George always had some backup flasks in his coat. He has to buy an opening using George’s bluff then.</p><p>“You’re free to test out your hypothesis son, I don’t mind if your Archer joins in for the fight either.”</p><p>With a grin plastered on his face, George threw all of the vials directly at Assassin. Shockingly, Assassin revealed his cane, which had a bladed tip, and started thrusting it through all of the corks of the numerous flasks. After having collected every vial with only his cane, Assassin flung the potions directly at Wilbur.</p><p>Despite being an Archer, what Wilbur brought to deflect the volley of alchemy was not a bow. He had his guitar in his hands. With a mere flick of the wrists, he had begun playing the guitar, and one by one the guitar strings shot out sharp soundwaves. These invisible arrows pierced every single one of the vials and they broke apart into a wave of colourful liquid and broken glass.</p><p>Unfortunately for the pair, Assassin had accounted for that. While Wilbur wouldn’t be harmed by the vials, the broken potions and their contents obscured Archer’s field of view for a small moment. Assassin had used this window to close the gap between him and George, the magus could only retaliate with some of the backup flasks he had hidden in his coat. He crushed one of these flasks in his hand and it reacted violently, exploding in both George and Assassin’s faces.</p><p>“GEORGE, NO!”</p><p>George wasn’t stupid, he knew he’d be six feet under if he used a bigger explosive vial. However what he didn’t account for was the floor beneath him giving way due to awful condition.<br/>George may have been unharmed from the explosion, but now he was falling straight down to the base of the tower. </p><p>“Bastard!”</p><p>Assassin was similarly unscathed, and while he did manage to jump back to a part of the floor that didn’t collapse, he knew George would be extremely vulnerable mid-air as he wouldn’t be able to dodge any attacks. He jumped after George, seemingly uncaring whether or not he fell to the ground.</p><p>“Oh no you don’t!”</p><p>Wilbur saw his master and his enemy falling. While George was indeed vulnerable mid-air, so was Assassin. Archer used this chance to fire off another volley of sonic arrows. As Assassin was falling headfirst, he would also be unable to defend the bottom half of his body from the arrows, or so Archer thought. Assassin merely passed the cane from his hands to his feet and deflected all of the arrows effortlessly.</p><p>Assassin had made one critical error however, and he only realized it once he looked back towards the ground, towards George. While he was busy fending off the rain of projectiles from above, he was defenseless against the volley of flasks George had thrown towards him. Unlike last time, these vials were George’s most explosive batch and they had connected with Assassin’s body. Even if he was a servant, he couldn’t walk away from such an attack unharmed.<br/>“That was a brilliant attack, even if it didn’t kill me, you’ve scared my master into ordering me to retreat.”</p><p>George watched as Assassin landed on the ground gracefully after being pushed back from the explosion. The relief he felt as Assassin retreated was rudely interrupted by the fact that he’s seconds away from hitting the ground.</p><p>And he did indeed feel the impact, however for some reason he was still conscious to feel the impact. Had he not been reduced to a red stain on the earth? After a brief moment of confusion, George felt someone else land next to him.</p><p>“A contingency plan is what separates the good generals from the great generals master. I knew there was a chance this decrepit old tower might collapse, so I extended my guitar’s strings around the base to form a safety net for your safety.”</p><p>“How is a guitar of all things this powerful!?”</p><p>“It’s a trade secret, master. I might tell you once we get back home, but we need to leave now. The tower’s collapse certainly alerted the other masters.”</p><p>After threatening to use a command spell on Wilbur to wipe the satisfied smirk on his face, George and his servant went back home. They had won their first of many battles in the Holy Grail War.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Earth shattering bellow</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Sometimes foreshadowing is relatively obvious</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>As the pair began walking back home after their victory, they briefly gazed back at the ruins of the once breathtaking tower. While George would certainly miss the view from the top of the tower, the ruins weren’t what caught his eye. Rather, he noticed the expression on Wilbur’s face. </p><p>For a very brief moment, Wilbur had a wicked smile on his face. After surviving the encounter with Assassin, George most certainly felt relieved, but the expression on Archer's face reeked of something else. It seemed more akin to sadistic pleasure, whether it was due to defeating Assassin or wrecking the tower, George didn’t know. Archer quickly composed himself once he noticed his master staring at him and began leading the way back home.</p><p>“Hmm? Is there something on my face, George?”</p><p>“George? I’m flattered that we’re on a first-name basis, but for both our sakes I’ll still call you Archer in public. And no, there’s nothing on your face. I was just thinking…. Why are you so keen on helping me win the Holy Grail War? Do you have something to gain from this?”</p><p>“I’m but your humble servant, master. Just kidding, I do have a wish for the Grail as well. Don’t forget, both the surviving master and their servant gets to make a wish. Speaking of that, if you don’t mind me prying master, what do you wish for?”</p><p>As they were walking through the streets of Atlasia, George contemplated on whether or not he should reveal his wish to Wilbur. After being saved by Archer, George certainly trusted his servant. What George feared was that Wilbur would think less of him for having such a petty wish. A great hero such as Archer would certainly have a much nobler wish than his master. </p><p>His contemplation was interrupted by the sound of galloping. He felt Archer grab him as he jumped with George in his arms on the roof of a nearby house.</p><p>“What the honk Henry!? I told you not to trample them BEFORE we made sure they were the ones who messed up your owner!”</p><p>George and Wilbur identified the source of the voice, and the source of the previous galloping. There, in the middle of the street, was a bull with someone on top of it. The young man had slightly tan skin and black hair. He wore a white bandana and white robes with an insignia of a fireball in the middle. </p><p>George did not miss the red markings on the back of his right hand, he was an enemy master. Only two of the red markings were bright red, so George concluded that this master must’ve already used up one of his command spells.</p><p>“Can animals be summoned as servants, Archer?”</p><p>“I doubt it’s impossible, but it’s definitely rare. It seems that Henry’s ‘owner’ is someone other than this master, he’s unharmed after all. I believe this isn’t a servant, but the mount of another servant. A mount would indicate that this man is likely Rider’s master, but due to Rider’s injuries he had to come with Rider’s mount himself.”</p><p>“A servant who’s as smart as he is fast? I gotta say, I’m kinda jealous of you two. Y’all sure as hell are unlucky though, meeting me on the first night of the War.”</p><p>The young man was grinning wildly at George. In the blink of an eye, him and the bull had leaped on top of the roof George had been on. Just before impact, Wilbur pushed George out of the way and jumped on an adjacent roof. The house they’d been standing on was reduced to dust by the bull. </p><p>“Are you okay, George!?”</p><p>“I’m fine, but you need to shoot down that master!”</p><p>“Aww, with a cute name like Gogy I’m gonna regret killing you a bit. Just a tiny bit though.”</p><p>Archer fired off a volley of sonic arrows at the master, but Henry was far too fast for the shots to land. The bull had dodged every single arrow to keep the young man safe. </p><p>Wilbur knew he had to first slow down the bull if he was to shoot down the enemy. He fired off a second volley at the head of the animal, however he also snuck an arrow at the knees of the hind legs of the beast. Even if Henry dodged the arrows coming straight toward him, he would be unable to avoid the arrow coming from below.</p><p>Unfortunately for Wilbur, Henry did not dodge the arrows.</p><p>The beast had begun bellowing. The deafening noise surely smashed every window and alerted every guard in Atlasia. The soundwave blocked Wilbur’s arrows and knocked both him and his master off the buildings they were on.</p><p>George felt a jolt of pain as he landed and couldn’t help but let out an awful shout due to the agony he was in. He was still alive, but something inside him broke. George couldn’t pinpoint what exactly was broken, but if this fight continued any longer he might not live to see another day. He didn’t need to worry about bleeding out however, as the bull was charging at him and he wouldn’t be able to dodge due to his wounds. As the beast began aiming its massive horns towards George’s frail body he only had one thought.</p><p>‘Dying within a day? I guess I really am nothing compared to the Taken…’</p><p>As George closed his eyes and accepted the end of his journey, he heard the sound of flesh being pierced. But he was still conscious, so what happened? If he had not been slain, then who-</p><p>Opening his eyes again, George was met with the answer.</p><p>“A-are you alright, George?”</p><p>Wilbur had been impaled by the bull.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. A dream of a revolution</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Backstory time :)))</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>George couldn’t believe his eyes. The bull’s horn had gone straight through Wilbur’s abdomen. George wasn’t sure on how the anatomy of servants differed from humans, however he knew that if his servant’s heart and brain were still intact then Archer would have avoided an instant death. Wilbur might have a shot at survival if he could retreat without taking further damage.</p><p>“By my first command spell, I order you: Save yourself, Archer!”</p><p>The back of his right hand felt like it was burning. The magical energy stored up in one of his command spells was transferred to Archer. With this newfound strength, Wilbur fired off a myriad of arrows at the horn which he had been piercing him. Henry let out a bellow in pain as his left horn snapped like a twig. After breaking free, Wilbur immediately leaped towards his master’s house. Normally Wilbur would’ve protested against leaving George in danger, however an order made with a command spell is absolute.</p><p>Now George was alone, bleeding out and in front of the enemy without having his servant by his side. His order may have been shortsighted, however George couldn’t bear seeing Wilbur badly wounded. Everything was getting blurry due to the blood loss. George could make out the sound of several people running towards him. As his vision faded, he heard the young man sitting on the bull one last time.</p><p>“Damn, Clay and his Saber messed up my Rider, Gogy’s Archer fucked up Henry AND there’s guards hot on my heels. Today really sucks ass, doesn’t it, Henry?”</p><p>And then everything turned black.</p><p>………………………………………………………………………………………………………………</p><p>They had been fighting for years.</p><p>The freedom which they had been seeking was seemingly forever beyond their grasp.</p><p>His brothers in arms had sacrificed so much, yet it was never enough.</p><p>Some lost their arms, others lost their eyes, most just lost their lives.</p><p>But they would never give up, for the sake of those whose blood had already been shed.</p><p>Their rebellion, no, their revolution was on the brink of extinction due to a traitor stabbing them in the back. A once trusted friend mercilessly lured them into a trap for empty promises of riches and power.</p><p>One brave soldier agreed to a duel to the death with the enemy’s leader. The two would fire a single shot after ten paces. Had the soldier won, they would’ve won their independence. A single shot would determine the course of history.</p><p>The revolutionary’s shot did not hit its mark. His heart was punctured by the other’s arrow.</p><p>The only thing they had going for them, is that the leader of their oppressors was fascinated with an item which belonged to the second in command of their revolution. Did their leader have some kind of connection to them? Perhaps, however at this point the reason did not matter.</p><p>Only the result mattered, that they would gain their independence in exchange for the discs.</p><p>They successfully won their freedom. The birth of the first democratic nation in these lands was at hand.</p><p>That all changed after they made one mistake.</p><p>One single mistake.</p><p>In accordance with the ideals of the revolutionaries, the leaders of their new nation would be democratically elected. Unfortunately, the candidate who had been elected in their first election did not share these ideals.</p><p>This damned tyrant, this godforsaken monster exiled him and all those who protested against his dictatorial decrees. Hope wasn’t yet lost however, he could still secretly organize a new revolution, to take back their nation which had been stolen away. When he approached those who used to fight by side in the revolution, they had mostly all refused to join the new revolution. </p><p>They were satisfied with this new nation, even if they had to live under a tyrant’s heel.</p><p>Was he in the wrong? Should he give up on his nation, for it had become a better place after a fair and legal election?</p><p>No.</p><p>He could never forgive a dictator.</p><p>They had made a vow for their nation to be a bastion of democracy. They would never let it become like the nation of those that used to oppress them. If it had fallen so low, it would be better if it didn’t exist in the first place.</p><p>At that moment, he made a vow.</p><p>That if he, Wilbur Soot, can’t have his nation, no one can.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I wonder if y'all can guess the servant-master pairs.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Hell hath no fury like a magus' scorn</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Sorry this took a while, am busy with exam week atm.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>'Was I dreaming?’</p><p>That was what first crossed George’s mind once he began to wake up. That dream almost made him forget what had happened to him and Wilbur last night.</p><p>Almost.</p><p>Unease began creeping in George’s mind. He was sure that his wounds were fatal. He was certain that he wouldn’t wake up after passing out in front of that enemy master. And yet here George was, wide awake and, most importantly, alive.</p><p>After thanking whichever god saved him from such a cruel fate, George took in his surroundings. Panic had begun setting in as the young magus failed to recognize the unfamiliar room he was in. There was also no sign of his servant anywhere. </p><p>Did Wilbur really not make it out alive after all? If his servant didn’t save him, who did? Where was he? George had many questions and he desperately needed answers. George resolved himself to investigate, despite feeling very weak from what he assumed to be blood loss. </p><p>As he got off the bed and attempted to stand up, George’s body felt extremely heavy. He quickly grasped onto a nearby end table, but it was pointless, his legs couldn’t support his body weight. George fell on the ground, shouting in pain as he made contact with the floor.</p><p>Someone must’ve noticed the commotion, as a person quickly ran into the room to see what had occurred. He picked up George and laid him back onto the bed. That’s when George got his first glance at the stranger. He wore a hooded robe made out of animal fur. There were a pair of cat ears atop the hood and his attire was mostly beige, with dark brown sleeves, gloves and pants. He wore a black mask with piercing blue eyes to hide his identity. He seemed more like an anthropomorphic cat than a person, but the voice that came out of him was indeed human.</p><p>“Are you okay? I hope you didn’t break anything again…”</p><p>He did not speak very loudly. It seemed more that he forced himself to speak rather than actually wanting to say something. Was he scared of something? </p><p>“I’m fine, more importantly though, who are you? Were you the one who saved me?”</p><p>“Are you sure you’re okay? I’ll have my familiars check you out just to be sure. In the meantime guess I’ll have to introduce myself. You can call me Antfrost. You were rescued by Atlasian guards after they found you bloody and beaten on the pavement. The captain of the guard intended to have you brought to a nearby hospital, where they’d interrogate you if you came round. Luckily for you, I pulled some strings to have you transferred to my own personal quarters. I used my familiars to patch you up here.”</p><p>Antfrost snapped his fingers, and in doing so, summoned a few ants made out of ice to crawl all over George’s body. To say George was feeling uncomfortable with all these ice cold bugs crawling all over him was an understatement. Seeing the fear in George’s eyes, Antfrost spoke up again.</p><p>“Sorry, this is the only thing I’m good at when it comes to magecraft. I promise they’re just checking for any wounds that might’ve opened up again.”</p><p>George felt marginally better knowing he might not be eaten alive today. Still, there was one thing he didn’t quite understand.</p><p>“Why did you save me? Who are you? What’s your name?”</p><p>“Didn’t I just say my name was Antfrost? Because I make ants out of fro-. Oh, you probably mean my real name. Sorry, but for my own safety I’d rather not tell you that. As for why I saved you, well isn’t that just what good people do?”</p><p>George was understandably very suspicious of Antfrost. He was another magus, making him potentially another master he’d have to fight. Unfortunately, Antfrost had gloves on, so George couldn’t tell whether or not he had command spells. Antfrost was also clearly withholding the entire story from George. </p><p>‘Does he know about my involvement in the Holy Grail War? He hasn’t said anything about my command spells, and if he knew I was a master, then he’d have just let me die since I’d be his enemy. Maybe he’s just a magus who’s uninvolved with the war, but sympathises with me as a fellow practitioner of magecraft? So he saved me from being executed by Atlasia for being a magus?’</p><p>“Has anyone ever told you you have an awful poker face? I can practically smell the suspicion you have of me. I don’t blame you though, given the circumstances. I guess I should be a bit more honest as to why I brought you here. I know who you are, George Founder. I know you’re a descendant of one of the magi who made the Holy Grail many years ago.”</p><p>George’s eyes widened in shock. How could Antfrost, a complete stranger to him, know about his past? He was certain his family was thought to have died out after the first Holy Grail War. All of George’s senses were alert, his body had gone into fight or flight. Surely this must be an enemy of his who dug up his family’s past.</p><p>“I know the Founder and Taken heirs at the time collaborated to make this ritual. The Founders used their extensive knowledge on alchemy to devise a way to create a device that could materialize anything given that the device had enough magical energy. The Taken used their type of magecraft, the recording and recreation of past events, to make a system to summon heroes from the past. The summoned servants would die in battle, and their magical energy would fill the wish granting segment of the Grail. That segment would use the fuel to materialize any wish the winning magus wanted.”</p><p>“Where are you going with this?”</p><p>“The Founder and Taken made the Holy Grail War in the first place. Now I need them to work together to stop this massacre. I know your family had a grudge on the Taken since the first War because of the curse they placed on your heir at the time. Even so, I can’t have Atlasia be reduced to a pile of rubble by the time someone wins the Grail. It’s been only a single day, and a historic monument was razed to the ground, several houses were wrecked and several people have gone missing. All this, even though the Grail can’t even do its job anymore.”</p><p>“Founder and Taken working together? D-Do you even know the weight of what you’re asking me to do? Aft-After what those bastards did to my family I’ll never forgive them! With how much you know about us, how dare you ask that of me?! They cursed our capability for magecraft, placing a time loop on our family’s blood that rewinds our knowledge of alchemy if we ever progressed. It’s their fault my family fell into obscurity, their fault my parents’ livelihoods have gone to shit! The only reason I prepared to fight and potentially die in this War is to rip the Taken’s future out of their hands, as they did to us!”</p><p>“I see, so regardless of whether or not the Grail works, your real wish never relied on it anyways. Even without it’s wish granting capabilities, you’re still going to trample over everyone else just to get back at the Taken. I suppose the negotiations were doomed to fail from the start, huh?”</p><p>“That’s right, now let me go or else I’ll call Archer here to force my way out.”</p><p>George had no indication as to whether or not Wilbur was even still alive, however he needed to get away from here. Antfrost essentially spat on his face with that suggestion. George would’ve gone against everything he worked for up until this point in his life.</p><p>“Alright, I’d rather not fight a servant. You may go, the front door’s open and you can find your way home. Since I couldn’t bring you over to my side, I won’t be as cordial next time we see each other, George.”</p><p>While George was blinded by anger, he did not want to shed needless blood. He quickly left the house before he accidentally escalated the situation. Unfortunately, in his fury, George never inquired on what Antfrost meant by the ‘Grail not doing its job anymore’ and ‘without it’s wish granting capabilities’.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>As always I'm curious to read what you guys thought of the chapter and any speculation y'all might have on the characters.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Reunions and feuds</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Me: Puts DNF in the fic's title and puts it as its main relationship tag.<br/>Also me: Focuses almost solely on George and Wilbur friendship.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>By some miracle George managed to return home in one piece, despite not having fully recovered and despite being incredibly vulnerable without his servant by his side. Once inside, George found it to be quiet. While that may not have aroused suspicion normally, George was hoping to see Wilbur again. The young magus began to panic and he began frantically searching every nook and cranny of his house for any sign of his servant. </p><p>And yet there was no such sign anywhere.</p><p>The master had begun to despair. Had his servant really passed last night? Was his time as a master already over? Would he lose his one chance he had in his life to strike back at the monsters who’d robbed his family of their thaumaturgy?</p><p>George felt a wave of sorrow hit him. As seconds turned into minutes and minutes turned into hours, his fears seemed ever more likely to be real. His eyes started to prickle with tears. He could only collapse on the floor in defeat. He curled up into a ball and pretended that this was all a cruel dream he’d soon wake up from. That was the only method George Founder could use to cope failing on his one shot at getting his revenge. It felt to him like his grief would last endlessly, however it did at last come to an end after he heard the front door open.</p><p>George gazed up to meet the eyes of the servant he thought he had lost, Wilbur Soot.</p><p>“...Archer?”</p><p>“The one and only.”</p><p>The magus ran straight towards Wilbur, who caught him in a bear hug. Even if George had only known him for about a day, they had already trusted their lives to one another out of necessity. George may have been grieving mostly for failing to kill the Taken, however he did also genuinely feel sorrow at the thought of losing his newfound friend. </p><p>“How did you survive? That injury was fatal, wasn’t it?”</p><p>“I was bleeding pretty badly, yes, however it wasn’t immediately fatal. Thanks to your command spell I managed to return here just in time to patch myself up. Sorry about using up some of your vials in the process though.”</p><p>“That’s the least of my worries. As long as you made it out in one piece I’m content.”</p><p>Wilbur couldn’t help but smile after hearing the relief in his master’s voice. This made him feel even guiltier about deceiving George all this time. No matter how much it may pain him, his goal outweighed his master’s safety. For now he was content just playing along as George’s faithful servant, and to that end he had been busy while George was at Antfrost’s place.</p><p>“While you were gone George, I snuck into the palace library to try to get a lead on the identities of our opponents. I manag-”</p><p>“You did what?! Breaking into the royal palace is suicidal! If they’d caught you, they would’ve taken you to the gallows at best, or tracked me down as the magus who summoned you and executed me at worst.”</p><p>“Rest assured master, I’ve done my fair share of sneaking into enemy territory back when I was alive. I made sure to cover our tracks and I came back with some tea to spill. That’s how the phrase people use in this era goes, right?”</p><p>George let out a defeated sigh. He was glad Wilbur was alive, but he was being a tad nonchalant about potentially getting them both killed.</p><p>“Alright then, spit it out. What did you find out?”</p><p>“First of all, it seems like the master who attacked us last night did an awful job at hiding his identity. He’s a well known magus around these parts who has evaded capture for a while, his name is Nick Sappitus Nappitus. He’s wanted for helping convicts escape from prison, destroying public property and being a magus. All of the convicts he’s rescued so far have been magi, so he may think of himself as some hero who’s fighting against the oppression of magi in Atlasia. The reports state he frequently uses fire magic. That, along with his impressive mount and his Rider servant make him a formidable foe to say the least.”</p><p>“Thank you for the report, Wilbur. Did you dig up anything relating to the other masters?”</p><p>“Unfortunately, no. According to Nick, whoever summoned Saber is called Clay, however I couldn’t find any reports on a magus named Clay. Assassin’s master remains a mystery and we haven’t even seen Berserker yet. Still, we should focus on one problem at a time.”</p><p>“Agreed, let’s search out and kill Rider and Nick first. I think I’m too tired after losing so much blood yesterday though, let’s wait until tomorrow. It’s already dark outside anyways.”</p><p>“By your orders mas-”</p><p>Wilbur was interrupted by the sound of glass breaking. Two masked men had crashed through the window into George’s house. One wore a striking red cloak with a mask resembling a pig’s face. The other wore green robes with a hood over his head. His mask was white, seemingly made out of porcelain, and had a simple black smile and two black dots representing eyes etched onto the mask. The pig-faced man had a stoic expression, while the other had a cocky grin plastered on his face. At least, that’s what George gathered from the parts of their faces he could see. </p><p>Wilbur, ever so loyal, immediately placed himself between his master and the ones he presumed to be enemies. Him and his master noticed the red marks staining the hand of the man in the white mask. Command spells, so they really were facing an enemy master and his servant.</p><p>“For once, Sapnap was actually right. You really are the guy I’ve been looking for, Georgie.”</p><p>“You’ve been looking for me specifically? Wait, then that means-!”</p><p>“Yep, the name’s Clay. The current heir to the Taken family and your sworn enemy, Founder. Prepare for battle, Saber.”</p><p>“This is it Archer! We were saved by some miracle yesterday and I won’t let that miracle go to waste! I’m ending our century-long blood feud, Clay!”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>After 7 chapters, the 'enemy' in 'enemies to lovers' is finally here!<br/>As always, lmk on your thoughts abt this chapter and what's still to come.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. A fragile mask</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I updated the tags a bit since I now kinda have every story beat planned out but not written down (yet).<br/>This chapter mostly follows the perspective of someone else's journey before and during the first day of the war up until chapter 7.<br/>Hope y'all enjoy</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Ever since he was a child, Clay always had to wear a mask. He needed to conceal his true self from everyone around him. His face had always been concealed out of necessity, even if he hated having to wear that mask. If it were as simple as a porcelain white mask with a quickly scribbled on smiley face, it wouldn’t be an issue.</p><p>But it wasn’t just that.</p><p>He was the heir to the Taken bloodline, who’ve always been proud of their incredible talent in all walks of life. If he was anything less than the ideal magus, the strongest warrior or the most intelligent student, then he might as well be dead to his family. No, he had long since subconsciously adopted his family’s perfectionism. Had Clay been born perfect, he might’ve been able to see his own worth as a person.</p><p>Unfortunately for him, he had been born as a mere human. His completely human flaws would never allow him to reach the heights his family had envisioned. Even if he had access to one of the most coveted forms of magecraft, it was nowhere near the level of what his ancestors could perform. Even if he could best most magi his age in combat, he still wasn’t invincible. Even if he could understand most of what his family had taught him about magecraft, there were still concepts and subjects that he struggled to wrap his head around.</p><p>As such, he had to wear a mask of pure arrogance. If he couldn’t be perfect, he could at the very least lie to the whole world that he truly was what he and his family wanted. To convince both his family and, more importantly, himself, that he was worth the oxygen he was wasting. </p><p>Clay never really had a wish for the Holy Grail. As the heir to one of the families who created it, it was his duty to finally win the Holy Grail War as his family had failed to do in the first war. He never even cared as to what his family’s wish was. It was simply his duty to win the Grail. If he failed in his quest, his mask would shatter. He would bring shame to his family, as his ancestor had. His parents would unmistakably disown him, but even worse is that he would be forced to face the truth. The truth that, as a man of flesh and blood, he is susceptible to flaws like any other person, even if he couldn’t accept being less than perfect.</p><p>Despite his reasons, Clay still wasn’t particularly thrilled at the notion of killing the other masters. They all probably had far better wishes and they probably deserve the wish they’d make. </p><p>Worst of all, he knew his best friend Nick would be among the enemy masters. Nick was the only man who he feels comfortable taking off his mask in front of. If it wasn’t for Karl’s passing, Nick would never have pointed his blade towards Clay. After hearing the news, Nick didn’t smile for ages. It was only when Clay brought up the Holy Grail War that Nick’s eyes shone once more. If it truly could fulfill any wish, then it could surely bring back Karl? Clay understood his friend’s resolve, and knew this war would probably end with one of them dead. Despite knowing that Nick needed the Grail far more than Clay ever would, Clay couldn’t let his mask break.</p><p>He needed to trample on the lives and desires of all the other masters, including Nick and….<br/>George.</p><p>Clay suspected that the heir of the Founders might be a master. They were one of the few mage families who still knew of the Holy Grail War and he reasoned that the Founders would most likely want their curse to be lifted with the power of the Grail. The curse Clay’s ancestors placed on the Founders. The Founders’ magecraft would be doomed to stagnate, they would never be able to advance their abilities. The future of the Founders was robbed by the Taken. While magecraft has always been a source of pride for the Taken, it is now a source of shame for the Founders. Clay could only imagine how much that would hurt his self-worth.</p><p>Clay knew perfectly well how badly the stagnation of magecraft must’ve hurt the Founders. That’s why Clay felt extremely conflicted. Even if the Founders were his family’s enemy, and thus his enemy, they’re completely justified in their hatred of him. Yet Clay couldn’t let himself be killed. He still wanted to make his family proud and to keep the mask of self-worth on. So he had to win the Grail, and he needed to take out his worst enemy. The heir of the Founders would go to great lengths to kill him, as they were desperate and had nothing worthwhile left to lose. Clay steeled his resolve to take out whoever the current heir of the Founders was as soon as possible. </p><p>Nick and Clay agreed on a truce after their fight on the first day. Clay’s Saber could have easily ended Nick’s Rider’s life back then, but Clay felt too guilty about fighting his best friend. After they had parted ways, Nick recognized the guilt in Clay’s eyes. While Nick still had to win the Grail for Karl’s sake, he still wanted to lessen the burden his friend was carrying. Nick and Clay had always been open about what they were feeling, and as such Nick knew that Clay felt guilty about having to potentially kill off the Founders. So Nick decided he’d kill off the heir to spare Clay the guilt of having to do it himself. </p><p>Unfortunately for Clay, Nick failed in killing George off and Clay would have to do it himself. Nick did manage to estimate where George lived based off of the direction him and his Archer were walking towards before he ambushed them. While he wanted to kill George personally, Nick decided he needed to wait until his Rider healed completely before fighting another servant. So he chose to inform Clay of the location of George’s house.</p><p>And that brings Clay to where he is now, staring down George while their servants are a split second away from clashing. As he gazed into George’s eyes, all he could see was pure, unadulterated contempt. Clay was right, George absolutely hated him for a conflict that happened decades ago. Even if George deserved justice and even if Nick deserved love, Clay knew then and there that he would have to rob them of their wishes if he wanted to win the Grail. The only way he could love himself is if he came back home with it in hand.</p><p>And thus, he decided to be the villain, even if he didn’t want to hurt them deep down.</p><p>“For once, Sapnap was actually right. You really are the guy I’ve been looking for, Georgie.”</p><p>“You’ve been looking for me specifically? Wait, then that means-!”</p><p>“Yep, the name’s Clay. The current heir to the Taken family and your sworn enemy, Founder. Prepare for battle, Saber.”</p><p>“This is it Archer! We were saved by some miracle yesterday and I won’t let that miracle go to waste! I’m ending our century-long blood feud, Clay!”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Hopefully you guys like that take on Dream's character. </p><p>And sorry for the cliffhanger before their fight :P</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. A cloud's embrace</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This just in, local magi have tons of emotional baggage and need to get rid of it to be happy.</p><p>Hopefully happy together ;)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>As much as he didn’t want to show it in front of his enemy, George was incredibly nervous. Clay came from the most talented family of magi in the kingdom. If it was just him, then he could easily have Wilbur shoot him down, but Clay also had his Saber. George had no idea what this servant was capable of, though apparently he managed to defeat Rider in battle whilst him and Wilbur only barely survived against just Rider’s mount. </p><p>Whoever was behind that pig mask was surely incredibly powerful. Despite being stronger than his enemy, the Saber servant wasn’t showing any hints of arrogance in his expression. He remained completely stoic, as if he was merely Clay’s tool. At least that’s what George gathered from what little he could see of the servant’s face. In contrast to his servant, Clay had an incredibly smug grin. George’s blood was practically boiling now. </p><p>Wilbur easily noticed his master’s anger. He knew that George might act recklessly in front of the enemy out of sheer indignation. Wilbur’s suspicions were proven correct when he saw George’s hand grasp at a vial in his pocket. As much as he wants George’s help in this fight, Saber would’ve recognized George as a threat to his master. There isn’t much Wilbur could do if his master was attacked immediately. Saber was out of his league, and George was out of Clay’s. He’d need to kill two birds with one stone before they were cut down. Thus, there was only one option.</p><p>Clay would need to die. If Wilbur shot him immediately, Clay wouldn’t be able to react. And without a master to feed him magical energy, his servant would be severely weakened. Wilbur pulled on the strings of his guitar and fired off a volley of sonic arrows towards the enemy.</p><p>Unfortunately, Saber had realized the same thing and quickly intervened. He drew his blade and swung it around effortlessly, as if it were merely another limb of his. All of Wilbur’s countless arrows were deflected and Saber didn’t even break a sweat.</p><p>“Saber! Cut down Archer, George is <i>mine</i>.”</p><p>Saber said nothing as he immediately charged at Wilbur. George’s eyes couldn’t keep up with them, he could only pray that Wilbur would win. He needed to focus on killing his opponent.</p><p>
  <i>Clay.</i>
</p><p>George wondered how someone like Clay could sleep soundly at night. Clay’s ancestors doomed their allies, George’s family. Despite having almost everything you’d ever need in life, they still wanted the Holy Grail. What could they possibly gain from their wish? Or did they just want to keep it out of everyone’s else’s grasp out of a sense of entitlement? And now Clay had just separated their servants from themselves, as if he wanted to personally cut George down. How can someone so arrogant, so greedy, so bloodthirsty ever live with themselves?</p><p>As much as Clay wanted to run away, he felt too responsible for what had happened to the Founders. While he wanted George to get his revenge and remove the curse from his family, Clay also needed the Holy Grail desperately. The blond knew he’d need to kill George before the guilt became too heavy of a burden to carry. Still, he hesitated when it came to drawing his sword. George and Nick’s blood would end up on his hands because of his selfishness, wouldn’t it? Was it really worth it? Clay resolved himself to win the Grail before answering the questions that lingered in his conscience.</p><p>Clay drew his blade as George grabbed a vial. Clay realized that he’d be at a disadvantage unless he closed the gap between them, since George seemed to prefer ranged attacks. George feared the possibility of Clay getting too close. While he wasn’t defenseless in close quarters, the Taken were known for being experts in all fields of combat. George could also tell that Clay was far stronger than him. Clay was at least a few inches taller and he certainly seemed far more muscular than him. His robes didn’t have very long sleeves so he was showing his arms, they certainly seemed like they belonged to an expert swordsman. His shoulders were wide and he could see the shape of a well defined chest even through the robes.</p><p>‘Note to self, don’t ogle someone while he’s trying to kill you...’</p><p>Unfortunately for George, Clay noticed George losing focus for just a second. Not letting that second go to waste, the blond swordsman immediately dashed towards George. His blade was coming down onto the brunette’s neck far too quickly for his body to move to deflect it. </p><p>But even if George’s arms couldn’t move fast enough, his vials certainly could.</p><p>George opened the vial in his hand without throwing it. Instead of exploding like his usual flasks, this vial released it’s contents rapidly and shot up towards the blade. While a broadsword wouldn’t shatter from the force of a glass vial hitting it, the contents of the flask quickly corroded through the metal after impact. Seemingly undeterred by losing his weapon, Clay immediately roundhouse kicked George in the abdomen. </p><p>The brunette lost his footing and almost emptied the contents of his stomach after that blow. The next thing he saw was Clay jumping towards him with his sword in his hand. The blade was reforming itself after it had corroded to nothing. It was the trademark of the Taken family, magecraft that can rewind time. George knew Clay essentially reverted the blade to a time before it had been destroyed, thus repairing it. </p><p>Before Clay could land a finishing blow, George smashed another flask on the ground next to him. The entire room was engulfed in a green cloud. The cloud contained a strong paralytic toxin. Even if Clay could rewind the time within his own body to cure any damage, it wouldn't matter if he was paralysed before he could conjure such a spell. Clay realized the danger and immediately rewound himself before he made his jump. He stayed away from the cloud, while George was caught in it. George drank a vial with an antitoxin, thus preventing his own paralysis. He could now stay within the cloud to force Clay to keep his distance. </p><p>Not wanting to lose his advantage, Clay wanted to get rid of that cloud. Very carefully, Clay approached the cloud and stuck the tip of his sword in the fumes. After a brief moment of chanting, the entire cloud began to revert back to its shape while it was contained in the vial. George couldn’t believe his eyes. Every single particle of that toxin was contained effortlessly. </p><p>The brunette was terrified. He was so hopelessly outmatched and his servant was nowhere to be found. The last thing he had keeping him away from Clay had been dealt with. What could he even do against his enemy anymore?</p><p>George didn’t have to worry about that question anymore.</p><p>Because Clay had answered it for him.</p><p>Clay had closed the gap and his blade was inches away from George’s heart.</p><p>The answer was that George can’t do <i>anything</i>.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I pwomise berserker and the other characters ive tagged are appearing soon. As always hope y'all enjoyed the chapter.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. No strings attached</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>The only fuel I need to write chapters is unhealthy amounts of caffeine and positive vibes from the comments lmao.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>George’s life flashed before his eyes. Clay won their fight. The finishing blow would be the sword Clay had thrown towards George. In his desperation, the brunette went through all the possible outcomes to his predicament.</p><p>Could he deflect it? George had a dagger he always carried with him as a last resort. He’d just need to deflect the projectile just enough so it wouldn’t cause a fatal wound. Still, his body wasn’t fast enough. His arms couldn’t raise the dagger quickly enough. He wouldn’t be able to deflect the blade flying straight towards his heart. </p><p>What about his vials? He had used his flasks to bridge the gap in physical strength between him and his opponents before, but it wouldn’t help him now. His limbs weren’t agile enough to grab another vial. Regardless of how easy destroying a simple metal blade would be with his alchemy, it’s meaningless if he can’t react to it on time.</p><p>George reasoned that he had only one option. Even if his muscles and nerves couldn’t keep up with his impending death, the magical energy in his body could. Even if he couldn’t perform any alchemy right now, there’s still one other thing he could do with his magical energy.</p><p>“By my second command spell, I order you Archer! Save me and kill Clay!”</p><p>In an instant, George saw the blade get ripped apart by what he assumed was Wilbur’s arrows. At that moment, he turned around and saw Wilbur running to his side. Wilbur was badly wounded. While there weren’t any obviously fatal wounds like last time, he was bleeding all over. Their situation might still be awful, but George was relieved they hadn’t died just yet. </p><p>Before Clay met the same fate as his weapon, he screamed an order at his servant with all of his remaining strength.</p><p>“Saber, block the arrows!”</p><p>Right on cue, his servant appeared suddenly. With a mere flick of the wrist, he swung his blade around, effortlessly blocking every single thing Wilbur threw at his master. The servant didn’t even need the help of a command spell unlike Wilbur. Saber also seemed completely unscathed, even though he’d been fighting Wilbur this entire time. </p><p>To say George’s situation was grim would be an understatement. Both the alchemist and his servant were beaten and bloody. They needed to kill both Clay and Saber immediately. George threw all caution to the wind and gambled everything on his next move.</p><p>“By my final command spell, use <i>everything</i> you have Wilbur! Kill them!”</p><p>Wilbur was shocked. By using up all three of his command spells, George would no longer be able to force Wilbur to obey any of his commands. If Wilbur went against any of George’s wishes after this order, George would be powerless to stop him. He felt honoured that his master trusted him that much.</p><p>And he felt guilty, knowing he would eventually betray that trust.</p><p>Still, the effects of the command spell kicked in. Wilbur automatically prepared his Noble Phantasm, his strongest attack. Every historical figure has some object that’s intrinsically tied to their legend, that’s their Noble Phantasm. Upon calling that object’s true name, a servant could unleash their strongest attack. Still, it carries a certain risk as any surviving enemies could easily deduce a servant’s true identity after hearing their Noble Phantasm’s name.</p><p>“I know that I must protect them with my life. I must make a land that is good and a land that is free. We’ll build these walls with our fair hands through the wind, rain and snow.”</p><p>“And so we sing a familiar tune, an ode to l’manburg!”</p><p>After Wilbur’s chant had ended, the strings on his guitar shot out, completely enveloping everything in George’s house. Both Clay and Saber were trapped within the strings. The attack didn’t end there however, the strings began to vibrate intensely. The ensuing cacophony deafened everyone present. Clay’s face began to panic as he realized that the vibrating strings were about to shoot out the same sonic arrows that Archer typically uses. </p><p>Only now he and his servant couldn’t move, the arrows would be coming from every string around the house and thus every angle and there were going to be far too many arrows for his servant to block.</p><p>Clay’s head was already spinning from overusing rewind time too much. To rewind an object, he’d need to visualise every particle that object is made out of and their movement in the past. It’s simple enough when it comes to solid objects, but he had to rewind a gas just now. Concentrating on every single particle when they don’t stick together strained his mind far too much. He couldn’t get free no matter what he did.</p><p>“It looks like I made it just in time.”</p><p>George’s expression quickly changed into one of panic. That voice came from right behind him. He recognized that voice, but it wasn’t Wilbur’s.</p><p>It was Assassin’s voice.</p><p>He tried to turn around to confront Assassin, but he wasn’t fast enough. He felt something hit the back of his head. The brunette fell to the ground as his vision faded. Right before he passed out, he saw Assassin with an ant made out of ice on his shoulder.</p><p>“George, no!”<br/>
Wilbur immediately aimed all of the arrows meant for Clay and Saber towards Assassin. </p><p>“You’re right, master. If I hadn’t taken the time to lure <i>him</i> here I’d be in a hell of a lot of trouble.”</p><p>As if on cue, whoever Assassin lured broke through the walls of George’s house. The intruder was a short boy with brown hair and two large ram horns on his head. Despite his meek appearance, the boy went on a rampage, cutting through all of the strings and destroying what little remained of George’s house. Realizing the threat to his master’s safety, Wilbur had no choice but to unleash the arrows meant for Assassin towards the boy.</p><p>With the attention off of him, Assassin jumped towards Clay and cut him free. As Saber was still immobilized by the remaining strings, he could do nothing as Assassin knocked Clay out and picked him up. He flipped back towards George’s unconscious body and picked him up as well. </p><p>“I’ll leave you two to deal with Berserker, though I doubt any of us could take him on.”</p><p>Those were Assassin’s words as he jumped out of the same window Clay and Saber had broken earlier. Before Wilbur could do anything about his master being taken by the enemy, the walls began to creak and groan. The boy, who Wilbur now knew was Berserker, had caused an immense amount of destruction. The damage to the structure proved to be too much and the entire roof began to collapse.</p><p>The collapse was beneficial for Saber, as the strings were wrapped around the house. Thus, the collapse of the building caused the strings to loosen up which gave Saber his opportunity to cut them and escape. Berserker rammed through another wall to escape. Wilbur also managed to escape just in time through the window. Soon there was nothing but a dust cloud where George’s house once stood.</p><p>After avoiding their deaths, Archer and Saber looked at each other with the same expressions. A mix of sorrow, shame and anger.</p><p>They failed as servants. </p><p>Their masters were kidnapped by an enemy servant.</p><p>They didn’t know where their masters had been taken.</p><p>George and Clay were <i>gone</i>.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>And at last, the final servant is introduced. His identity should be obvious lmao</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. For the greater good</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Sorry for the wait, I've been busy with school lately. Hopefully this can distract you guys from the stresses of real life for just a bit :)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Even if the boy exhausted an incredible amount of magical energy during his rampage, Berserker was still not satisfied. His mind was still split in two. His heart was clouded by a mixture of sorrow for having caused so much destruction to innocent people and rage for the world that wronged him. </p><p>Berserker still had energy to spend. Saber and Archer were still standing. It was only natural that he’d continue to fight.</p><p>Just as Berserker was about to leap towards the other servants, he felt his body become heavy. Despite what both his selves wanted, someone else was forcing his body to stop. He then felt as if his body had a mind of its own as his body started to run away from the scene of the destruction. His master must’ve used a command spell to force him to retreat.</p><p>Once the dust settled over what was once George’s house, Wilbur let out a sigh of relief. The fight could have gone much better, but at the very least his master was alive. At least, that’s what Wilbur assumed since he would’ve also faded away if George died.</p><p>As long as George was still alive, Wilbur could remain materialized in this world. Additionally, Wilbur succeeded in his other objective. George wasted all of his command spells in the fight. Now Wilbur was free to pursue his true goal. Still, before he figured out a way to achieve that it’d be in his best interest to keep George alive. Archer was somewhat concerned he couldn’t sense his master anymore though.</p><p>“Earth to Archer? You didn’t get a concussion, did you?”</p><p>Wilbur’s concentration was broken by Saber who was standing next to him. Archer looked up to see the servant with a slight smirk on his face. Wilbur was surprised to see Saber showing any kind of emotion. During their fight, it seemed like Saber couldn’t feel <i>anything</i>.</p><p>“I guess calling you Archer is redundant by now. With a Noble Phantasm called ‘An ode to l’manburg’ your identity is pretty obvious, Wilbur.”</p><p>“Obvious? You’re one to talk. With your signature pig mask and impeccable skills with a sword I don’t even need to hear your Noble Phantasm to deduce your identity, Technoblade.”</p><p>“Good, that makes things simpler. You know full well how I’m not particularly fond of governments of any kind, and I know you’re not the biggest fan of anything that isn’t a democracy since Schlatt took your precious nation. Since we’re both currently in a monarchy, we’d be the perfect team to overthrow it together.”</p><p>“Overthrow? Techno, our masters are being held captive somewhere we need to fi-”</p><p>“Wilbur, when I was summoned to fight for Clay, I made sure to scout out the kingdom since I knew I might end up at odds with Atlasia. This <i>is</i> the same kingdom that I fought against when I was alive. Plus, they’re Clay’s natural enemies since they outlawed the practice of magecraft. I discovered something interesting about the palace. It’s structure and foundation are made out of Erebosite. Erebosite can prevent any thaumaturgy from passing through it.”</p><p>“Techno, the last thing we need right now is a lecture on rocks.”</p><p>“My point is, there’s only two explanations as to why we can’t sense our masters’ location right now. Either they’re dead, or there’s something blocking our magical connection with them. Obviously, they can’t be dead. We would have died by now if they’d been killed. Meaning-”</p><p>“Something’s blocking our connection with them. If the palace is the only place made out of Erebosite then they’ll be there. To think the palace itself would be the base of operations of Assassin…”<br/>“If there’s a mage somewhere in the palace, they’d have to have some way of evading the law. My guess is that Assassin’s master might be royalty. It’s the only way he’s not being burned at the stake while also being a magus.”</p><p>Wilbur just realized that Techno was probably right. It also meant that when Wilbur couldn’t feel George after they had been separated after their fight with the bull, George was either taken to the palace or somewhere that was also made out of Erebosite. In either case, whoever took care of George back then had ties to royalty and most likely tried to convince George to cooperate with him. When George refused, that person probably sent Assassin after him to force him to cooperate.</p><p>Still, he didn’t know why Assassin’s master needed both George and Clay. Surely he could’ve just killed both their masters during that last fight. Technoblade interrupted his thoughts by clearing his throat.</p><p>“What’d you say? Care to chop some royal heads and save our masters?”</p><p>Wilbur was conflicted. On one hand, he really didn’t want to rely on an enemy. On the other hand, he knew there was no way he could attempt to rescue George by himself. He needed Techno’s help. He had to keep George alive for now.</p><p>“We’ll agree to a ceasefire for now. Once we rescue George and Clay we’ll finish our fight. Hopefully those two don’t kill each other before we break into the palace.”</p><p>“I wouldn’t count on that. We should probably get going.”</p><p>With that remark, the two servants put their differences aside and started making their way towards the Atlasian palace.</p><p> </p><p>“Are you sure that’s what you heard?”</p><p>“That’s what the ice familiar I planted on George picked up. George’s servant definitely said ‘An ode to l’manburg’.”</p><p>Assassin couldn’t believe it. The servant had hidden away the memories he had of Wilbur in the deepest parts of his consciousness. It’s only now that he heard that Noble Phantasm’s name that his memories began to resurface. Before he could panic any more, his master spoke up.</p><p>“Still, this doesn’t change anything for us. I can’t imagine the pain of having to face your son in battle, but both of our wishes are still achievable even knowing Wilbur’s in our way. You said you’d make things right with Wilbur after how your lives ended, right? Now that Wilbur’s back as a servant, you have that opportunity. Don’t let it end like how it did in your original lives, Phil.”</p><p>“That’s easy for you to say, Ant. I just gave you Clay and George on a silver platter. Now you just have to sit back and have them dismantle the Grail for you. As long as you stay within the safety of these walls, you’ll win.”</p><p>“You’re right. I don’t understand the pain of having to kill your own son, but I do understand the pain of seeing your father trample over your wishes for his selfish reasons. From what you told me of him, I can guarantee you Wilbur would’ve wanted you to put him down. All I can do is hope you come to the right conclusion this time, Phil.”</p><p>Phil knew Ant was right. Sooner or later he’d have to fight Wilbur, his son, again. Still, he didn’t ever want to face that dilemma ever again.</p><p>The dilemma of having to kill his son for the greater good.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I'd be genuinely surprised if anyone could figure out what's going on with Berserker.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0012"><h2>12. Clay panic</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Really sorry for the huge delay for this chapter. Have been extremely busy lately but dont worry im not giving up on this fic. It's practically my child lmao.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>With a groan of pain, Clay opened his eyes. He didn’t recognize the ceiling he was looking up towards. The blonde felt exhausted and was in pain, but at least he was still alive. He’d expected this agony, he’d used his time rewind far too much against George.</p><p>
  <i>George…</i>
</p><p>Just thinking about the alchemist made him feel… <i>something</i>. Clay couldn’t put his finger on what exactly that feeling was. He knew he didn’t want to hurt George even if he had to for his own sake. His family would never let him live down failing to get the Grail and he really needed his wish. Even knowing that, it hurt having to keep up a mask in front of George, it hurt having to fight George, it hurt having to <i>kill</i>George.</p><p>The magus assumed that was due to knowing George was completely justified in wanting the Grail and the pain he felt was simply the guilt eating away at him. It also didn’t help that George’s wish was far more important to him and his family than Clay’s selfish wish. Still, that didn’t explain why fighting George hurt even worse than when he fought Nick. </p><p>The same factors of Clay’s guilt that applied to George also applied to the raven-haired man. Also, the fact that he was his only friend would mean that fighting him would be far worse than George who was practically a stranger. Clay couldn’t understand it. Clay didn’t want to understand it. It would just get in the way of the Holy Grail. He’d need to get over whatever this was and kill the brunette sooner or later.</p><p>Clay couldn’t help but admire the alchemist. Despite coming from a cursed family, despite having a weaker servant and despite being so small and frail, George fought incredibly well. His migraine was proof of that. Clay forced himself to rewind time much more than what his body could handle and even then it wasn’t enough to win. Even Nick, whose magecraft was far more destructive than either his or George’s, never pushed him this far. </p><p>
  <i>He really is amazing.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Wait, stop. No admiring the enemy, even if he is cu-</i>
</p><p>
  <i>STOP!</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Dammit. That’s enough soul-searching for one day. Now to find out where the actual fuck I am.</i>
</p><p>To figure that out, Clay tried getting up from the bed he was sleeping on. His attempt was stopped when he felt something pulling onto his arm. He looked back and saw that one of his hands was cuffed to the bed. Despite wanting to rest, Clay did not want to stay confined by the enemy. He’d need to break free from his handcuffs. </p><p>
  <i>This should be easy...</i>
</p><p>Even though he felt awful, Clay forced himself to use his time rewind again. His head felt like it was splitting open. The blonde focused on the particles that the cuffs were made out of, and their trajectory through space and time. Unfortunately for him, the cuffs were probably closed and locked hours ago, he’d need to rewind back far longer than his body could handle at this point. Still, even if it hurt like hell he’d tr-.</p><p>Clay’s eyes widened in panic. Despite mentally preparing for the surge of pain that wouldn’t come. He couldn’t even feel the magical energy coursing through his veins like usual. One closer glance at the cuffs gave Clay a clue as to the problem.</p><p>
  <i>These cuffs...are black? Aren’t they made out of steel or iron? Wait….</i>
</p><p>The blonde just figured out why he wasn’t escaping any time soon. These were probably made out of Erebosite. The magus was skeptical when he first heard of Erebosite’s effects on magic from Technoblade. Yet here reality was, staring Clay right in the face. His only hope was relying on his servant to rescue him and Geo-.</p><p>
  <i>Just him.</i>
</p><p>In the meantime, he’d have to look around the room he was in for anything else that could bail him out. Nothing on the end table. Nothing on the drawer. Something on the bed.</p><p>Wait.</p><p>Someone.</p><p>Clay recognized that mess of brown hair. </p><p>The pale skin. </p><p>The pink, kissable lips. </p><p>The only thing that seemed odd to Clay was the boy’s expression. The alchemist was sound asleep, so his face was completely neutral. Clay only ever saw George’s expression contorted into pure hatred, panic or fear. He briefly wondered what George’s smile would look like. Would he ever get to see it?</p><p>
  <i>Is this how Nick felt when he still had Karl?</i>
</p><p>The blonde’s thoughts were interrupted when the door to the room they were in was opened suddenly.</p><p>In the doorway, he saw a brunette who wore robes that seemed as if they were made out of the scraps of several other fabrics. There were stitches all over his clothes holding together purple, green and orange fabrics.</p><p>
  <i>Who is he?</i>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>It only took 12 chapters to begin to justify the dnf tag. Hopefully y'all enjoy some gay Clay panic</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0013"><h2>13. Burnt cities, Burnt bridges Part 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I know I'm jumping POVs a lot, but I promise everything will come together soon. I'm about halfway done with the fic now.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <i>”Selfish.”</i>
</p><p>
  <i>I can’t believe it.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Even after all this time.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Even in this new life after death.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Was it really selfish of me to want Tubbo to be free?</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Niki and Fundy could see it too. Everyone could. </i>
</p><p>
  <i>Tubbo was just being used by that bastard Schlatt.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>How did it get to that point? Wasn’t he happy enough with the rest of us in l’manburg?</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Was their family not enough for them?</i>
</p><p>
  <i>I couldn’t stand seeing Schlatt use Tubbo for his political gain. He barely won the election, but he needed to win the favour of the people. Schlatt just needed someone whom l’manburg loved that he could parade around as his secretary of state. Both to garner sympathy from the public and to hold as a hostage in case of a rebellion. </i>
</p><p>
  <i>Fortunately, the rebellion that came for that twat’s head wasn’t led by anyone that cared about Tubbo. Schlatt couldn’t do dick when Wilbur marched through our walls with only a handful of rebels. Schlatt, being a bitch, ran away when the rebellion started. He fucked right off to some other continent for some mage ritual. After Schlatt ran, he left Tubbo to pick up the pieces and try to stop the rebellion.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>I never did manage to hear what that ritual was called, though.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>In any case, the insurrectionists razed almost everything in their path to the capitol. I found it hard to believe that this rebellion was being led by a man who was known as a paragon of freedom and justice to the people. There were probably far more civilian deaths than actual military casualties.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>It went about as well as expected. Even with l’manburg’s larger army, Tubbo just didn’t have the experience to stop them. The rebels stopped at nothing to burn the city to the ground. </i>
</p><p>
  <i>That’s why I had to save him. Before his head was put on a pike and paraded through the streets. </i>
</p><p>
  <i>As the fighting was at its peak, I snuck into the White House. Just like Tubbo, I was an orphan and grew up on the streets. Lockpicking and crawling in vents was practically my specialty. </i>
</p><p>
  <i>As I made my way into Tubbo’s office, I saw him sitting in the corner of the room and crying. </i>
</p><p>
  <i>This was too much for any teenager, let alone Tubbo. I needed to get him out. I knew Tubbo cared too much about this shithole of a country to go willingly, so as much as it pained me, I had to take him by force.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>With a cloth soaked of potions of weakness and slowness in hand, I snuck up behind my best friend. I put the rag in front of his face. He struggled for a bit, but quickly succumbed to the effects and fell limp. Just to be sure, I put my head next to his chest.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>I’ll never forget the sound of that heartbeat. I knew I had to save him no matter what.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>I carried him out of the White House just in the nick of time. I managed to reach the tunnels in the sewers Tubbo and I used to hide in when we were on the streets. From there, sneaking to the edge of the city was a piece of cake. I snuck my bull, Henry, in these tunnels earlier as part of the plan. I laid my friend on the bull so we could make a break for it towards the edge of the city. As much as I wanted to go back for Fundy and Niki, the rebels were already balls deep in the capitol. We needed to leave. </i>
</p><p>
  <i>”T-tommy…?”</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Hearing Tubbo’s voice almost made me forget how fucked we were right now. At the very least I now knew I didn’t fuck up and accidentally overdose him with the potions. I laid Tubbo down after having Henry carry him all this way. He immediately struggled to get up on his feet. Before anything else could tear them apart, I hugged him like my life depended on it. </i>
</p><p>
  <i>Tubbo didn’t return the hug. I tried to not let it get to me. He was probably still a bit high on those potions, right?</i>
</p><p>
  <i>”Thank fucking god, you’re awake! Sorry about the whole kidnapping thing, but we need to run! Those rebel cunts could find any of the entrances to the sewers any moment now.”</i>
</p><p>
  <i>”I’m not leaving…”</i>
</p><p>
  <i>”Wh-what? What do you mean you’re not fucking leaving? Tubbo, if you stay, you’re fucking dead. You know that, right?!”</i>
</p><p>
  <i>”It’s my responsibility. The people here need me, Tommy. I was given an opportunity to fix this place by Schlatt. I can’t let anyone down.”</i>
</p><p>
  <i>”An opportunity?! Schlatt fucking threw you to the dogs by leaving you here! Tubbo, please, for once in your life, think about yourself instead of the rest of the world! Dying here isn’t worth shit.”</i>
</p><p>
  <i>”Think about myself? Tommy, do you remember all of the shit we did when we were younger? Do you remember all those times we robbed people just to get by? All of the other thugs and guards we needed to beat up just to survive? All of the livelihoods we crushed just to get by in life? I owe it to all of them to make their lives better and I still can!</i>
</p><p>
  <i>”Tubbo, that’s not impor-”</i>
</p><p>
  <i>”Yeah, it isn’t important to YOU. But has it ever occurred to you that the world might not revolve around you!? I just wanted to make a difference in the world but you just kept getting in my way!”</i>
</p><p>
  <i>”What fucking good is the world if you’re not in it?!”</i>
</p><p>
  <i>”That’s exactly my point! You can’t think of anyone but yourself. You don’t even care about what I want. You just want me around to keep you company.”</i>
</p><p>
  <i>”Selfish. That’s what you really are, Tommy. Selfish.”</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Tubbo was right. I had no way of refuting that statement. That’s the only way I knew how to live on the streets and I never got over it. As much as I wanted to say something, ANYTHING, to convince Tubbo to come with me, no sound would leave my throat. I realized I might have to take him by force again. I had Henry with me and I was much stronger than Tubbo. I can do thi-</i>
</p><p>
  <i>”Hey, the brat’s over there!”</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Dammit, why now? Fucking rebels got into the sewers. I reached for Tubbo’s hand, but just before I could take him I was interrupted. I felt a stinging pain in my left shoulder.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>There was an arrow sticking out of it. One of the cunts shot me. My clothes were being soaked in my blood. I couldn’t take the pain and fell to the ground as the rebels reached me, Tubbo and Henry. They quickly pushed Tubbo to the wall and handcuffed him. Henry was getting agitated from the commotion, but he was subdued by another pair of rebels.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>”Do you have anything to say for yourself, tyrant?”</i>
</p><p>
  <i>”Just get it over with. I don’t want to give that snake the satisfaction of seeing me die, though. He’s the one who leaked our military strategies to you rebel scum.”</i>
</p><p>
    <i>Pain turned into shock, and shock turned into confusion. Tubbo was looking at me as he said those words. I never even spoke to a rebel, let alone leak military info. What the fuck was Tub-</i>
</p><p>
    <i>”Sorry, I mistook you for a bootlicker, kid. Drink this.”</i>
</p><p>
    <i>I couldn’t even process what the rebel was pouring into my mouth. I didn’t even feel my wound close because of the healing potion. I just realized what Tubbo meant to do with that bluff.</i>
</p><p>
    <i>He wanted to save me. The one selfish thing he did after he became Schlatt’s lapdog was to save me that day. </i>
</p><p>
    <i>As the rebels let go of me and Henry, Henry immediately went berserk. He just saw his owner get shot by the pricks, so I can’t blame him. Still, Henry grabbed me by my collar with his mouth and ran away as fast as he could.</i>
</p><p>
    <i>I was still weakened by the blood loss. I couldn’t do anything as Henry dragged me away to safety. I couldn’t do anything as I saw Tubbo get further and further away. I couldn’t do anything as I saw one small tear running down my best friend’s face. I couldn’t do anything as he was lined up against the wall of the tunnel.</i>
</p><p>
    <i>”TUBBO!!!!!!”</i>
</p><p>
    <i>I couldn’t do anything as they fired off a volley of arrows directly into his chest.</i>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Hope you enjoy this take on Tommy and Tubbo's friendship! As the chapter title says, this is part 1 of the next chapter which also focuses on the two. I know this is supposed to be a DNF fic, but I want to give all of the characters a bit of the spotlight.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0014"><h2>14. Burnt cities, Burnt bridges Part 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>With this chapter, we're a bit over halfway done with the fic.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <i>The rest of my life went by in a blur.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>I managed to survive the fall of l’manburg. I’m not exactly sure what happened. No one really is. The only witnesses of what happened in l’manburg during the nation’s last moments perished in the sea of flames that covered its soil. It didn’t matter if you were loyal to Schlatt, to Tubbo or to Wilbur. The flames devoured everything. No records of l’manburg or its citizens survived.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>I did what I’ve always done. I looted, stole and robbed from countless souls after I fled from what used to be l’manburg. Because of the refugee crisis after the fall of l’manburg, no foreign nations would take me in. I had to resort to crime, like always.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>I just did what I had to to survive. At this point, I wasn’t even sure why I kept on living. Life really wasn’t the same after Tubbo’s…</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Like any long time criminal, my luck eventually ran out. Some cunt guards outsmarted me, beat me senseless, brought me to the gallows and…</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Well, you can figure out the rest.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>At the very least, it wasn’t in vain. With the help of my only surviving friend, Henry, I managed to make quite a name for myself in these other cities. I ended up earning the nickname, Tommy France.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>I’m not really the type of guy to give a fuck about fame, but this fame did get recognized by the Holy Grail. At least, that’s what Nick told me on how he heard the Grail works. Only the most famous or infamous people turn into Servants. Even so….</i>
</p><p>
  <i>It should’ve been him. Tubbo should’ve gotten another chance. He was willing to risk everything for people he never even met. He died for a nation that wanted his head. He’s more of a hero than I’ll ever be. </i>
</p><p>
  <i>Unfortunately, whatever happened to l’manburg after I left destroyed any record of his existence. He was forgotten about completely, so there’s no way the Holy Grail could’ve recorded his existence to turn him into a Servant.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Wilbur got really damn lucky. He became famous during l’manburg’s war for independence, so his fame was practically unscathed once he died during the fall of l’manburg.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>The only consolation prize is that Schlatt’s fame, like Tubbo’s, also took a fucking nosedive, so he’s not coming back either. Both him and Tubbo only live on in a few Servant’s memories now.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>There’s no point in reminiscing anymore. The only path left for me is straight ahead. For Tubbo’s sake, I have to win this fucking Holy Grail War. Nick and I will kill every single poor fucking Mast-.</i>
</p><p>“Hey, you done brooding, Rider?”</p><p>Tommy was snapped out of my nightmare as he heard someone call his name. It was Nick, his Master. While he was annoyed at first with the Master he was stuck with, Tommy eventually grew to appreciate Nick. </p><p>Nick wasn’t a stuck up arsehat like most magi are, but he wasn’t incompentent either. The blonde Servant also sympathized with his Master. Just like how he wanted the Grail to bring Tubbo back to life, Nick was fighting for a chance to resurrect his boyfriend. Nick and Tommy weren’t evil people, but after having both lost the most meaningful connections in their lives, they would do anything to experience those connections again.</p><p>“In my defense, I absolutely see you thinking about Karl at night before falling asleep.”</p><p>“Low blow, but also true. Anyways, I got a job for you, Rider. I dunno why, but Clay hasn’t shown up <i>anywhere</i> after his fight with George last night. I’d appreciate it if you could scout the city to check up on him.”</p><p>“And if I find him?”</p><p>The raven-haired Master sighed. He knew this would come up eventually, but giving the order wouldn’t be any less painful.</p><p>“If you find any Master or Servant, kill them. Even if it happens to be Clay. We’re both too far gone to abandon our goals, Tommy.”</p><p>“Right. Aren’t you gonna come with me too? I might be fucked if I run into Berserker and his Master.”</p><p>“You’ll have Henry with you. Even if you meet someone who’s too much for you to handle alone, Henry can outrun all of the enemy Servants. If something happens to me, I’ll pop a command spell. I’m gonna be working on the spell I told you about in the meantime.”</p><p>Tommy nodded to his Master after receiving his new orders. He let out a whistle to summon his trusty steed, Henry, as they left his Master’s makeshift base in the mountains near Atlasia. </p><p> </p><p>
  <i>It’s only a scouting job, but I’m so fucking booooorrreeed. If I didn’t keep telling myself to ‘Do it for Tubbo’, I would’ve gone insane a long time ago. It’s already noon for fuck’s sake.</i>
</p><p>The Servant and his mount had covered almost all of Atlasia by now. They were now on standby near one of the many parks in the city. As Tommy was about to close his eyes for a small power nap, Henry tensed up and woke his Master up. Before Tommy could ask Henry what the fuss was about, he felt it too. That large amount of magical energy in the air could only mean one thing.</p><p>There’s a Servant nearby.</p><p>While Tommy wasn’t an Assassin class Servant, he’s done his fair share of sneaking in his life before becoming a Servant. So he opted for a stealthy approach this time. He rode Henry as quietly as he could towards the canopy in the park. The trees were extremely close to each other, so the canopy cast a shadow over all of the trees in this part of the park. That, along with the numerous trunks, provided a great hiding spot for the pair.</p><p>The Servant got off his mount as he left Henry to hide behind one of the larger trees. Tommy climbed up to the top of the canopy and jumped from branch to branch towards his target. The blonde went from tree to tree, steadily making his way towards the source of the magical energy he felt. The density of the magical energy was growing by the second, the enemy Servant would be in sight any-</p><p>Second.</p><p>Now.</p><p>He spotted the target. Both targets actually. A Servant and Master were sitting side by side on a park bench with their backs towards the blonde. They were eating ice cream and talking to each other. Through the process of elimination, Tommy realized the Servant could only be Assassin or Berserker. Considering how he wasn’t hiding his presence at all, Tommy guessed that the Servant was Berserker.</p><p>He couldn’t see the features of Berserker very well, since his back and head were turned. Tommy did notice the small demon horns that were jutting out from the messy, brown hair. Despite probably being Berserker, Tommy also noted that this Servant was both short and didn’t have much muscle. Granted, as Servants, muscles held very little meaning as the physical strength of a Servant can vary a lot. Especially since this Servant might be a demon like Schlatt was, judging from the horns.</p><p>Next to him was a person in a black hood. Unlike the completely black or brown rags that most thieves used as hoods, the Master’s robes had red lines on the edges of the hood. That made it far less suitable for stealth. Tommy thought that his hood and robes might just be a regular outfit. No thief would be sitting in a crowded park in broad daylight anyways. He’s just some random guy.</p><p>Or at least, that’s what he would’ve been if he didn’t have command spells on the back of his hand. Those trademark tattoos confirmed Tommy’s suspicions. They were both enemies.</p><p>So they both had to die.</p><p>Tommy weighed his options. He could try to kill them both and get one step closer to bringing Tubbo back, or he could run away and relay this information to his Master. While he was at a disadvantage fighting both a Servant and Master, the Servant seemed wounded. </p><p>Strangely enough, Berserker’s wounds weren’t healing either. Was his Master not feeding him magical energy? Between that, and the fact that they were both apparently dumb enough to be sitting around in broad daylight while one of them was injured made Tommy realize something.</p><p>They were both amateurs. He wouldn’t be surprised if the Master wasn’t even a proper magus.</p><p>That made his choice obvious, running away would be a waste. He’d call Henry over here and trample both Berserker and his Master right here, right n-</p><p>
  <i>Wait.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Is that-</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Who the FUCK is that?!</i>
</p><p>Before Tommy could call Henry to his side, Berserker had turned to face his Master. Tommy finally got his first look at Berserker’s face.</p><p>The messy brown hair, that innocent smile, the burn scars he got as a child. That looked like…</p><p>Like Tubbo.</p><p>It looked like Tubbo.</p><p>Even so, Tommy immediately noted the differences. His eyes weren’t the same light blue as Tommy was used to seeing. They were an ugly shade of crimson, likely due to being a demon. That wasn’t the only demonic trait. Tommy noticed the pointy ears and the aforementioned demon horns as well. </p><p>Strangely, Tubbo had never been a demon. He lived and died as a human. Berserker looked like a hypothetical demon version of Tubbo. Whoever this demon was, he looked an awful lot like Tubbo, but it couldn’t possibly be him, right?</p><p>Right?</p><p>Still, that incredibly small chance it was actually Tubbo plagued Tommy’s mind. Could he go through with killing him? Even if Berserker wasn’t actually Tubbo, Tommy wasn’t sure he could bear seeing that Servant’s face contorted in agony if he killed him.</p><p>
  <i>What the fuck are you doing Tommy? Get it together. I need to kill them, for Tubbo’s sake. That prick can’t be Tubbo. Tubbo wasn’t a demon. Tubbo can’t be a Servant.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Tubbo is dead.</i>
</p><p>As Tommy tried to steel his resolve, he saw Berserker take another bite out of the ice cream cone he held in his hand. The Servant laughed at something his Master must’ve said. Seeing the Tubbo look-alike experience the happiness that the real Tubbo never could broke Tommy.</p><p>
  <i>I can’t.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>I can’t fucking do it. He looks too much like him.</i>
</p><p>With tears falling down his cheeks, the blonde jumped back in the direction of his mount. Tommy couldn’t help but let out one last loud sob as he left.</p><p> </p><p>“Did you hear something just now Darryl?”</p><p>“...No? Maybe your pointy ears are better at hearing things than mine?”</p><p>Berserker dropped what remained of his cone as he grabbed his head with both of his hands. He could feel another migraine coming. His Master noticed his Servant’s change.</p><p>“Oh my god, are you okay? Are you remembering something?”</p><p>“I...I don’t know. Whatever I heard sounded…..familiar. I think...it might’ve been someone I once knew?”</p><p>“In any case, we should get you home buddy. That headache is going to get bad quickly if you don’t rest, Berserker!”</p><p> </p><p>As Tommy was riding Henry back towards Nick’s base, he couldn’t stop bawling because of his cowardice.</p><p>
  <i>I’m so sorry Tubbo… The one time you decided to be selfish, you saved me.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>But just now, the one fucking time I decided to be selfless. The one time I acted for someone else’s sake without any ulterior motive. </i>
  <br/>
  <i>It might’ve just doomed you.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>I’m such a fuck up.</i>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Hope you enjoyed some more clingy duo (or solo?) shenanigans. I promise the angst will be worth reading through and there will (probably) be a happy ending for (some) characters.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0015"><h2>15. A relationship to be reborn and a relationship to be born</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>If school and work weren't sucking the soul out of me daily I'd have finished this fic already. I'm really sorry about the delays guys. I want to write this fic as much as you guys want to read it but life ain't letting me.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Oh, you’re awake!”</p><p>Clay gazed at the stranger in the doorway. From the stranger’s voice, the blonde ruled out the possibility that it was Antfrost. The stranger sounded far more outgoing and excited when he spoke. That’s in stark contrast with Antfrost, who sounded far more reserved.</p><p>“So you’re Clay? <i>The</i> Clay?”</p><p>“What’s it to you? Who are you?”</p><p>“Oh, right! Introductions are a thing that people do. You can call me Karl. Or Carlos. Or Jacobs. Or-”</p><p>The blonde magus’ eyes widened as he recognized that name. Karl continued his rambling while Clay processed what he had just heard. <i>This</i> was Nick’s boyfriend. Karl was supposedly dead. According to Nick, Karl was imprisoned for use of magecraft and put to death while behind bars. What was <i>he</i> doing here?</p><p>“Karl? H-how are you alive? Nick thought you were executed..!”</p><p>“Wait, you know Nick!?”</p><p>Karl seemed just as shocked as Clay. The Saber’s master felt a bit hurt realizing that Nick never mentioned him to his boyfriend, though he mostly felt relief. If Karl was here, hopefully he could convince Antfrost to let George and him go.</p><p>
  <i>Wait. Why would I be concerned about George? He’s still my enemy, even if I don’t want to fight him. Our ancestors decided our relationship long ago.</i>
</p><p>“Yeah, I’m Nick’s best friend. I can’t even begin to express how often I’ve had to tolerate Nick’s endless praises about you.”</p><p>“So you <i>do</i> know Nick!”</p><p>A smile beamed across Karl’s face as he was reminded of his significant other. Clay was happy for Karl and Nick’s sake. Now all he needed to do was to escape wherever he was and reunite the lovers. If all went well, he wouldn’t have to fight Nick anymore. Nick’s sole desire was to bring Karl back, so if they reunited, Nick would bow out of the Holy Grail War.</p><p>“I’d be happy to reunite you two, though I’d <i>really</i> appreciate it if you could get George and I out of here.”</p><p>Karl’s smile faded from his face. It seems this wouldn’t be as easy as he had hoped.</p><p> </p><p>“Uh, about that…”</p><p>“What’s wrong? Is Ant keeping you here by force?”</p><p>“Yes and no? As you heard, I was caught using magecraft and imprisoned by Atlasian authorities. I was supposed to be sent to be executed in some remote prison in the kingdom, but Antfrost saved me. He pulled some strings with the few followers he had and had me transported here instead.”</p><p>Clay was surprised. From Karl’s explanation, Antfrost seemed like a pretty decent guy. Though the question still remained as to who Antfrost is. Seemingly sensing Clay’s question, Karl continued.</p><p>“He brought me, and a few other death row inmates, here. This is the Inbetween, a massive vault made out of Erebosite underneath the royal palace. You can think of this as a hidden hotel, a place where magi who’ve done nothing wrong can hide from authorities for all eternity. At least, the authorities that aren’t directly subordinate to Ant himself. Ant’s a member of the royal family you see. Sadly, he doesn’t have enough power to pardon us magi officially. We’re forced to stay here for now. Most of us here work for Ant to pay him back for this opportunity.”</p><p>That explained everything to Clay. That’s why he was imprisoned by cuffs of Erebosite. That’s also why Ant had information on the previous Holy Grail War. He had access to the entire kingdom’s libraries.</p><p>“And that brings me to the two problems. Ant’s a good guy. He loves this kingdom, but he also thinks magecraft can help it progress and it shouldn’t be outlawed. The problem is, his parents and numerous siblings don’t agree. They think magecraft is a ‘blight upon this world’ and other such rhetoric. Ant’s mentioned how he has no feasible way to ascend to the throne by normal means and he’s not exactly the ‘stab your family members in the back for the throne’ type of guy. Meaning…”</p><p>“He needs the Holy Grail to become the king.”</p><p>“Exactly, which brings me to problem number two. Despite needing the Holy Grail, he probably already told you and George that he doesn’t exactly like its existence. If it stays intact, Holy Grail Wars will continue happening for all eternity. As you’ve already seen firsthand, the Holy Grail War tends to cause a lot of death and destruction. Trust me, the first War wasn’t much better either. Ant doesn’t want that to continue, but he can’t exactly explain this to his parents. They’d probably just try to blow up the Grail with explosives and for all we know that would cause more harm than good. Point is, we need you and George to find a way to carefully dismantle the Grail.”</p><p>The blonde grimaced at the ultimatum he was given. While Clay entertained the idea of bowing out before, he <i>needed</i> to win to be able to love himself. At best, he’d be able to compromise and dismantle the Grail <i>after</i> he gets his wish.<br/>“Clay, please. The people of Atlasia need your help. The persecuted magi need your help. I need your help to get back outside the Inbetween. Nick needs your help to meet me again. Won’t you help us?”</p><p>Clay couldn’t look Karl in the eyes. He knew that Karl was absolutely right. From a purely ethical perspective, Clay needed to give up on his wish. So many people would benefit from Ant’s plan. Still, even if Clay could give up on his dream, there’s one thing he couldn’t accept.</p><p>
  <i>If the Grail is dismantled, what will happen to George’s curse..?</i>
</p><p>Karl noticed Clay staring at Archer’s master. The magus noticed how similar Clay’s gaze was to the look of longing Nick and him used to have towards each other. Even if Clay wouldn’t admit it to himself yet, Karl realized Clay had feelings for the alchemist. </p><p>“Here’s some food for thought. How about you tell me what you guys are wishing for? Ant might not have full control over the kingdom, but he has his own followers and connections. There’s a very real chance he could fulfill your wishes without the Grail.”</p><p>The proposition tempted Clay, but he couldn’t truly know if Antfrost could or would help him with something as vague as his self-worth. Additionally, as far as Clay knew, there was no way to lift the curse from the Founders without the Grail’s power.</p><p>“I could only accept that offer if you had a way to grant George’s wish.”</p><p>“You know, for supposedly having a blood feud going on with the guy’s family, you sure do care about him a lot. You haven’t even mentioned your wish yet.”</p><p>Clay’s cheeks flushed with embarrassment. Despite wanting to refute Karl’s claim, Clay realized he was probably right. As much as he didn’t want to admit it, he found George cute, strong, smart and brave. Despite his best attempts at convincing himself that George would have to die, he remembered feeling relieved when he heard that Nick failed to kill the brunette. The blonde chalked it up to his feelings of guilt towards the brunette for what the Takens did to the Founders, but it really was so much more than that.</p><p>It went further back than that. Clay had made sure to investigate the most likely magi to fight in the War months before the actual Holy Grail War began. While he wasn’t particularly fond of investigating every nook and cranny of other people’s lives, Clay didn’t seem to mind making George’s profile. </p><p>He would always write a bit more on George’s profile. He would always spend a bit more time following George around. He would always feel angry whenever someone picked on George. He would always feel jealous whenever a girl asked the alchemist out. Yet, his feelings would never matter.</p><p>George would never love him back. Clay didn’t deserve that much anyways. His family was responsible for George’s suffering. Karl must’ve noticed Clay’s frown at the thought of his unrequited crush.</p><p>“Let me guess, you don’t think he likes you back? You’re assuming he hates your guts because of what your ancestors did to his family?”</p><p>“Yeah, that’s just how it is.”</p><p>A smirk spread across Karl’s face as he realized that Clay was still partially in the dark about his predicament. Karl could still be a matchmaker for the two magi.</p><p>“The funny thing is, George isn’t out cold right now, he’s <i>sleeping</i>. He woke up before you did, but by the time you woke up he went back to sleep. Antfrost and him had the same conversation we’re having now. Gossiping about crushes included.”</p><p>Clay’s heart was skipping several beats as he guessed as to what Karl was about to say. Did he have a chance after all?</p><p>“I wouldn’t say he likes you back <i>yet</i>. What I <i>am</i> saying is that Antfrost was the one who matchmade Nick and I back in the day.”</p><p>“<i>And he thinks you two have a shot as well.</i>”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>As always, hope you enjoyed. I won't promise anything, but I'll try to get the next updates out sooner. Again, I'm super sorry for the huge wait.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0016"><h2>16. The boys who saw the outside world</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>George backstory</p><p>Bottom Text</p><p>(To clarify, the italic text in this chapter happens in a flashback. All other text is happening in present day.)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <i>I woke up in an unfamiliar and dark room with one of my hands cuffed to the bed. My first instinct was to channel magical energy through my body to escape.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Obviously, it was never going to work. Assassin and Antfrost would never have locked us up without supervision without having a countermeasure against magecraft.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Wait.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Us?</i>
</p><p>
  <i>I gazed upon the other bed in the room. Sure enough, there was a tuft of messy blonde hair sticking out of the cover.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Clay. Of course I’d be stuck with Clay.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Clay.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Clay. Clay. Clay.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Why can’t I get him out of my head?</i>
</p><p>
  <i>I heard a door open as I saw Antfrost approach me.</i>
</p><p> </p><p>“Are you okay, George?”</p><p>George was snapped out of his thoughts when Karl’s concerned voice rang behind him. His thoughts kept going back to when he had originally woken up in the Inbetween. The alchemist had almost forgotten that he was supposed to inspect the Holy Grail today. The brunette had agreed to cooperate with Clay and Antfrost. He’d give up his wish, but in exchange…</p><p> </p><p>
  <i>”Your first condition is that I help your family financially? I can certainly arrange that, but what’s your second condition?”</i>
</p><p>
  <i>I was surprised Antfrost was so willing to strike a deal with someone who had tried to kill his servant before. At the very least, I saw that as a sign that Ant was genuine about wanting to dismantle the Holy Grail and becoming king.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>”If you want me to give up on the Holy Grail, I want you to grant me my original wish.”</i>
</p><p>
  <i>”Hand Clay over to me. I’ll get revenge for what the Taken did to my family.”</i>
</p><p>
  <i>I saw Antfrost’s expression turn grim. It was as if he wanted me to ask for something else. Didn’t he tell me a few days ago that he knew I wanted revenge?</i>
</p><p>
  <i>”If that is your wish, George, I’ll grant it. In exchange for bowing out of the War and dismantling the Holy Grail after I’m done using it.”</i>
</p><p>
  <i>”However, if that’s not truly your wish, but the wish of your family, then I will protect Clay.”</i>
</p><p>
  <i>I didn’t fully understand what Ant said. Wasn’t my wish the same as my family’s? My family wants Clay dead.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>And I want...Clay...dead, right..?</i>
</p><p> </p><p>“George, it’s your turn to shower.”</p><p>Hearing his name being uttered by his sworn enemy, George turned around to face him. The sight the brunette saw almost made him forget that the blonde was supposed to be his adversary. Clay only had a towel wrapped around his waist as he stepped out of the bathroom. Water was dripping down his body, accentuating his toned body. </p><p>The alchemist quickly turned away so as to not be caught staring. As he looked to the other side of the room, he caught how Karl was trying to hide his laughter. George quickly snatched the clothing Karl had given him and walked past Clay. </p><p>After hearing the shower turn on, Karl and Clay wheezed joyfully. George had tried to play it off, but the other two magi noticed the blush across the alchemist’s face. After their laughter faded, Clay asked Karl as to how George could possibly be falling for him after wanting to kill him.</p><p>“I don’t think George ever hated you as much as he let on, Clay. I think George is finally starting to draw the line between what he wants and what his family wants.”</p><p> </p><p>George didn’t want to step out of the shower. In the shower, all he had to think about was the noise of falling water, the relaxation of his muscles and the grime and blood that was being washed off. The brunette found it to be a nice distraction from what has happened so far, and what’s to come in the Holy Grail War.</p><p>Still, George had one doubt remaining about his deal with Antfrost. Was he really fighting for himself or for his family? The warm water poured over his body as he recalled the rest of his conversation with the ice magus.</p><p> </p><p>
  <i>”How could I NOT want Clay DEAD?!”</i>
</p><p>
  <i>”I can only guess as to the reason, but I know at the very least that you spared Clay during your fight.”</i>
</p><p>
  <i>I couldn’t believe my ears. I was throwing everything I had at Clay to kill him. I used up my last two command spells. I threw vial after expensive vial at the bastard.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>”So far, the analysis we’ve done on the Holy Grail here at the Inbetween hasn’t given us any proper solutions as to how to dismantle it. That doesn’t mean we didn’t learn anything, however. “</i>
</p><p>
  <i>”From our digging, we found out that command spells are merely activated by the user’s voice. The actual content of the command depends on the user’s desires. So tell me, George.”</i>
</p><p>
  <i>”When you used a command spell to order Wilbur to ‘kill Clay’, why did Clay survive both attempts? Through my investigating and scouting, I have a pretty good idea of everyone's combat prowess. If Wilbur’s arrows were truly going for a kill like they were against my Assassin, Clay would never have survived.”</i>
</p><p>
  <i>”And yet, he lives. It’s almost as if you didn’t truly mean that order, George. Why is that?”</i>
</p><p>
  <i>I wanted to refute Antfrost’s statements so badly. I didn’t want him to be right.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>”Wh-what motive could I have for sparing him? Killing him was my main reason for entering the War!”</i>
</p><p>
  <i>As if the ice magus was expecting that reply, he pulled out a red book from his satchel.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>”As someone who's always cooperated with magi to keep them away from the gallows, I’ve made quite a few connections. This book details every known mage family in Atlasia. Even families who haven’t been cooperating, like the Founder and Taken, are detailed here. Mage families are quite the gossipers, you see.”</i>
</p><p>
  <i>”Your family’s story is quite tragic in more ways than one, George. You say that the curse that the Taken laid upon the Founder was it’s downfall, however I’d argue it’s a bit more nuanced. It’s true that your family’s magecraft deteriorated over the years because of the curse, but they could’ve always abandoned their magic ways. It’s been decades, and yet your family still toils around in their poverty and bitterness.”</i>
</p><p>
  <i>”From the look on your face, I’m guessing you’ve been thinking about that as well, George.”</i>
</p><p>
  <i>I was wracked in emotional conflict. While I didn’t like being talked down to, I sensed no condescension in Antfrost’s voice. In fact, I felt a bit comforted knowing that someone else finally understood a part of the problem. The Founders had plenty of time to change their ways and do literally anything else for a living. Instead, they groomed me to be their tool to get revenge on the Taken.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>”Ant. If I want something other than what my family wants, am I selfish?”</i>
</p><p>

    <i>I saw how that question cut Antfrost deep. Being a magus in the royal family, who all want all magi dead, probably caused Ant to contemplate that same thing.</i>
  
</p><p>

    <i>”Yes, you would be selfish, George. Though after what you’ve been through, I think you have the right to do something for yourself. You deserve to be happy, but you never had the chance to. Your family’s had that chance for years.”</i>

</p><p>

    <i>”Wh-what I’ve been through..? You don’t kno-”</i>

</p><p>

    <i>I was interrupted when Antfrost suddenly brought out an old document from his bag.</i>

</p><p>

    <i>”I haven’t seen it personally, but a purity enforcement knight saw it a few years ago. I’m not fond of knights who barge into houses to kill any magi they detect, but in this case, I’m glad they made this report. The knights in question didn’t detect your family’s magecraft, but they noted how there was a child present who never had a birth certificate made for him. A child who was never signed up to a school. A child who was never part of any clubs. A child who was, for all intents and purposes, locked up in his house.”</i>

</p><p>

    <i>”A child who never got to be a child. Instead, he only became a bitter family’s tool to lash out at another young man who’s bearing the sins of his forefathers.”</i>

</p><p>

    <i>”Does that sound familiar to you…”</i>

</p><p>

    <i>”...George?”</i>

</p><p>

    <i>I hadn’t even realized I was crying as I felt the tears stream down my face. I’d almost forgotten, no, refused to remember what my life was like before I had to move to the capital to participate in the Holy Grail War. Every day, they’d cram magecraft theory in my head. I’d never get to do anything besides prepare for the Holy Grail War. Anytime I acted out of line, they’d respond by “disciplining” me.</i>

</p><p>
  
    <i>They hadn’t neglected to constantly repeat stories on how the Taken are the most vile human beings on the face of the earth. If it weren’t for my youthful idealism and childhood curiosity, I would’ve believed them wholeheartedly. There was always that doubt in my heart that, maybe, the current heir to the Taken wasn’t a bad person.</i>
  
</p><p>
 
    <i>I could never see that boy for myself, as I was locked away in my parents’ home for all of my childhood and teenage years. Yet, that curiosity remained. I wanted to see the boy they’ve been telling me all about for my entire life.</i>
  
</p><p>

    <i>One day, through a bit of experimenting behind my parents’ back, I made a flask that could enhance my senses to the point I could briefly see, smell and hear every person in the kingdom. It took several years to develop, but eventually my childlike curiosity won out. I finally created and ingested the potion at the age of 17. In a sense, I could very briefly feel every lifeform in the kingdom.</i>

</p><p>

    <i>The potion had finally allowed me to see a fraction of the outside world. Tears of happiness were overflowing as I had gotten the only taste of life outside the confines of home. The beautiful mountains, the serene forests, the bustling city. It was all new to me.</i>
  
</p><p>

    <i>In that small glimpse, I saw him. He had his family’s crest stitched onto his robe. He had the trademark dirty blonde hair. He was laughing cheerfully with a raven-haired magus at a side of a lake.</i>
  
</p><p>

    <i>That’s when I realized. He wasn’t the bloodthirsty monster his mother had painted him out to be. Neither was he the callous, apathetic magus his father told him about. He wasn’t the one responsible for the curse either. The heir of the Taken was just like any other boy. His eyes shone with tears of joy just as much as mine did.</i>

</p><p>

    <i>The effects of the potion wore off before I could memorize any of the features of the blonde. I couldn’t decide what to make of this. Were my parents right? They were older and wiser than me, they knew better. Yet, at the same time, my heart was screaming that the boy was just someone else who became a tool to their family.</i>

</p><p>

    <i>The light that shone in his eyes screamed of a boy who had barely known the outside world, and had just begun to see it for the first time. The boy reminded me of myself. I couldn’t believe that a guy like that could be evil.</i>

</p><p>

    <i>I think my parents realized that I had gained some sort of purpose outside of their revenge plan. They doubled down on my magecraft practice, they enforced stricter punishments for falling out of line. They never let me near any alchemical ingredients without supervision. I never got to see that boy again. I’d forgotten all about any hope of the outside. About anything other than my mission: revenge. The only thing I needed to do was put the monster to death.</i>
  
</p><p>

    <i>Antfrost stopped my reminiscing with a hug. Even knowing that Antfrost could be playing with my emotions for his agenda, I let him comfort me. I just needed to release my bottled up emotions.</i>

</p><p>
 
    <i>”Well George, did you finally realize it? Clay isn’t to blame, he’s just a victim of his family, like you are. I’m not asking you to forgive his family, but you must’ve realized that Clay isn’t the monster you think he is. At the very least, the curse isn’t his fault. You both have an opportunity to bury the hatchet and end this blood feud.”</i>
  
</p><p>
 
    <i>”I-I..! I c-can’t...After all this time...I can’t...believe it… I knew...all this time..! And I...kept trying to k-kil-”</i>
  
</p><p>
George’s thoughts were interrupted by the sudden freezing sensation. The water had gone cold from all of the alchemist’s reminiscing. George couldn’t properly process his revelation yesterday. He’d always known that the heir of the Taken, Clay, wasn’t evil. In fact, he had unwittingly found out that Clay was suffering in their families’ feud as well. 
</p><p>
 The brunette had pushed that memory deep in the recesses of his mind as revenge became the only thing he lived for because of his family’s abuse. He had long forgotten his simple wish of exploring the world outside of his house. Clay wasn’t at fault for the abuse he suffered, nor was he responsible for the curse his ancestors placed upon the Founders. Clay and George didn’t have to kill each other.
</p><p>
Antfrost, Karl and Clay had already realized this fact.
</p><p>
And that’s what George realized now. While he can’t be entirely sure that Clay won’t still kill him for a wish, at the very least, the brunette wasn’t going to hold his past against the blonde.
</p><p>
 “Clay...isn’t my enemy.”
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Sorry if the pacing is slow lately, I promise the plot will start moving faster soon :)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0017"><h2>17. Intruder alert</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Just a biiiitttt more exposition before the plot kicks in</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <i>Should I really betray my family like this?</i>
</p><p>
  <i>I...really don’t want to hurt George or Nick, but…</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Will I be able to live with myself by giving up on my wish and letting Ant win?</i>
</p><p>
  <i>My family expects me to win the Holy Grail War because it’s our “legacy”...</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Seeing my parents happy was the only thing that mattered back when I was stuck living with them, but…</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Did they ever care about what made me happy? It was always “Win the Holy Grail War” and “finish off the Founders” unless I wanted to get disowned. I…don’t have anyone to go to. I always knew I was just a tool to my family, but that’s the only way I’ve ever found meaning… That’s the only way I’m worth something to someone.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>I wish Nick was here. He’d always assure me that I should look out for myself first and foremost. He’d be saying something like: “Your parents can go fuck themselves, grant your own wish!”.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>I’ll never forget the day Nick finally convinced me to sneak out of my parent’s house to go exploring in the wilderness. We’d found a lake in the middle of the forest and we were just splashing each other with the freezing water. We were making up ghost stories. Nick was making s’mores with his pyromancy. I was teasing for his, at the time, crush on Karl. </i>
</p><p>
  <i>If there’s one thing I could wish for…</i>
</p><p>
  <i>It’s to relive those moments. Without worrying about having to be the “savior” of my family. Without worrying about killing others for a wish-granting cup.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>I...don’t know how to truly love myself, but I don’t think I could forgive myself if the only way I could is by hurting innocents.</i>
</p><p>“Are you okay, Clay?”</p><p>The blonde’s contemplation was interrupted by George, who had finished clothing himself. Clay was surprised by George’s expression. </p><p>
  <i>George is...worried about me?</i>
</p><p>“Aww, were you actually worried about me, Georgie? That’s pretty sad since we’re still enemies at the end of the day.”</p><p>While Clay had tried to utter that in his facade of arrogance, George was unconvinced. After the brunette’s revelation about Clay, he realized that the signs George had been seeing in the past weren’t merely red herrings. Clay’s smirk would always seem forced, his voice would always sound as if it was on the verge of cracking. </p><p>The alchemist brushed those signs off due to his pure hatred of the blonde, but he could no longer ignore it. Especially considering how, just now, Clay seemed to be in pain in his thoughts. George didn’t know for sure, but if the Taken were anything like the Founders, then George knew Clay had most likely suffered as much as he had.</p><p>“Ugh. You’re such an idiot, you know...”</p><p>There was no ill intent in George’s voice. Clay was taken aback at hearing George making a seemingly playful comment. This was the first time Clay had seen George express himself towards him in a non-hateful manner. </p><p>“Y-yeah. Anyways, we gotta go catch up with Karl, he went on ahead.”</p><p>George caught how Clay seemed to be surprised by his retort. The brunette smirked as he had seen how easily Clay’s mask of confidence can fall apart. The alchemist tried to put on a poker face again as he followed Clay to their destination.</p><p>Neither of the two magi were sure of the other’s intentions. Yet, both of them had realized the other wasn’t to blame for their battle to the death. It was the opposite, both of them knew the other weren’t evil, but they were still testing the waters as to their relationship.</p><p>George couldn’t contain the gasp as they exited the corridor they were in. The two had reached the central hub of the Inbetween. It looked like an underground prison, with walkways lining up the walls at various levels, doors and corridors lining those walkways. The entire complex seemed to be underground, as there was a humongous Erebosite ceiling blotting out the sun.</p><p>While they had heard from Karl that Ant had subordinates, there were far more people than the two had expected. There were people chatting on a bench. Others were working out or playing sports. It was clear that the people here were free to some extent, despite seemingly living in a prison.</p><p>The final and most important thing the two noticed was…</p><p>The Holy Grail.</p><p>The object that was responsible for their grief.</p><p>The first thing George noticed was that it was <i>massive</i>. While it still had the shape of a goblet, it was easily several stories tall. Additionally, while it was largely in the shape of a chalice, George could make out how there were wires and conduits hanging and running around the machine. George’s suspicions were confirmed as he saw Karl and Antfrost talking to other magi near the base of the Holy Grail. The pair made their way towards the Holy Grail.</p><p>“Ah, there you guys are. Let me officially welcome you to the Inbetween! It looks pretty imposing, I know, but think of it less like a prison and more like a hotel! As long as you work a bit on weekdays, you’ll get food, water, clothing, basically anything you’d need to live here. There’s also some prime recreational activities like basketball, soccer, the gy-”</p><p>“Okay Karl, that’s enough. I think they get the point.”</p><p>Antfrost silenced Karl as he approached George and Clay. He still had a cat mask on, concealing his identity. Antfrost removed the pair’s Erebosite cuffs to allow them to use their magecraft, though the two didn’t miss how Assassin was staring at them from behind his master.</p><p>“Anyways, your job for today is to help my best mages to extract any data you still can out of the Holy Grail. To put it bluntly, there are no magi here who are as familiar with time manipulation and alchemy as you two are. Since the summoning segment relies on the principles of time manipulation to work, I expect you to handle that, Clay. George, you have to squeeze any bit of information you can out of the wish-granting segment.”</p><p>The two had little choice but go along with their assigned task. George had his doubts as to what he could learn from the Grail, but he <i>had</i> to try if he wanted the War to end. George made a mental note to negotiate with Ant for his end of the deal. The brunette wasn’t sure he wanted to help his family financially anymore. </p><p>And above anything else, he didn’t want Clay dead anymore.</p><p>Karl sent the two to the separate teams of magi. It made sense for them to work apart like this. While the Founders didn’t do a terribly good job of documenting how the Grail worked, George did at least know that the Holy Grail was actually two separate devices in one.</p><p>Firstly, the Taken were responsible for creating the summoning segment. It was a machine that recorded all human souls. Afterwards, it would delete any data from people that weren’t famous enough to meet its standards. Then, every few decades or so, the summoning segment would accumulate enough magical energy from the earth to recreate five recorded souls with its time manipulation. This meant that any heroes or villains from legend and history would, in a sense, live for eternity in the summoning segment as servants. As long as the summoning segment was still intact, and there was enough magical energy stored in it, the same servant could be summoned no matter how much they died.</p><p>The other part of the Grail was made by the Founders. After a servant dies in the Holy Grail War, the wish-granting segment would collect their soul and convert it back to magical energy. Thus, once most servants die in the War, the wish-granting segment would have a massive reservoir of magical energy stored up. Once it had at least four souls, a contestant would merely have to touch the Holy Grail and utter their wish. The incredible amount of magical energy would allow the wish-granting segment to perform alchemy at a level that flat out isn’t possible for humans. While humans normally rely on substituting most of the magical energy requirements in alchemy by using ingredients or chemicals for their alchemy, the Holy Grail contains so much energy that it can circumvent the need for such materials. It could literally transmute thin air into whatever the winner desired, assuming there were at least four souls in the Grail.</p><p>
  <i>Well, time to see what you’re hiding from us, Grail.</i>
</p><p> </p><p>Antfrost had gone to his office in the Inbetween. He had left Karl in charge of overseeing the pair’s work. While Ant wasn’t as naive as to believe the two would find a way to dismantle the Grail in a single day, any further insight as to how it worked would be crucial for his goals.</p><p>Still, Ant felt remorse for having to kidnap the two to work for him. It didn’t help that his conscience was far from clean given how he’s had to keep many magi hidden in the Inbetween for their safety. Even knowing it was for their good, Ant had doubts in his heart.</p><p>“Phil, am I doing the right thing?”</p><p>The servant responded to his master’s beckoning. Assassin was always keeping watch over his master’s safety. It wasn’t merely out of an arbitrary sense of obligation or out of necessity. Assassin, or rather, Phil genuinely related to his master’s plight.</p><p>“Mate, I can’t see the future. I can’t tell you if the path you’re taking is the correct one or not.”</p><p>“But if there is one thing I can tell you, it’s that, at the very least, you’ll be able to smile on your deathbed since you’ve accomplished something in your life.”</p><p>Antfrost noticed how Phil’s eyes lacked the usual light that eyes typically had. Ant thought that Phil was speaking out of experience. Ant hated seeing Phil down like this. In the short time they knew each other, Ant had considered Phil more of a father figure than his actual father, the king. Since George and Clay were bound to be busy for a while, Ant decided to pry into his servant’s past.</p><p>“...You speak as if you haven’t achieved anything, but you ended up becoming notorious enough to become a servant. Isn’t that more than enough for most people, Phil? Or is this about...you know...”</p><p>“Ant, it’s no secret that I regret how things ended with my son, Wilbur. If I had known why Wilbur had gone over the edge after the elections, I could at least rest in peace with my regrets. Yet, I don’t even understand why he did what he did.”</p><p>“Then tell me. You may not understand as you’re speaking as a father who doesn’t understand their son, but I’m a son whose father refuses to understand. Maybe I can figure out why…”</p><p>Phil looked at Ant sadly, he knew that Ant had a point. If there was anyone besides Wilbur who would understand, it would be someone in a similar position like Ant.</p><p>“Okay, here goes nothing.”</p><p>“As you know, master, I come from another country called Harkor. While I won’t deny that Atlasia has it’s issues as a kingdom, Harkor is a corrupt hellhole of a country. So, the common people paid in spades to have certain government officials assassinated.”</p><p>“I ended up taking assassination contracts left and right, slaughtering dozens of people in secret. Although, my trademark green robes and bucket hat were recognized over and over again. I ended up becoming the first, and so far only person to have a kill-on-sight order in every major simultaneously. Thus, I could never allow myself to be caught. I only had a single chance every mission, or else I’d be executed. Hence, my title as the man with only one life.”</p><p>“And all that for what? Was it to improve Harkor? Was it to enforce standards on politicians? Was it to redistribute wealth to the needy?”</p><p>“No, it was to bring food to the table so I could live to see another day. That’s all I ever did in life. Kill, eat, shower and sleep ad nauseam. I’d do those things until the day I died.”</p><p>“At least, that’s how it would’ve ended had it not been for that day. One day, I ended up tracking two of my targets to a river. I was stalking them, as per usual. I saw the couple lay a basket in the river. I didn’t think much of the basket, until the river carried it past me.”</p><p>“I heard the basket <i>crying</i>. While it wasn’t part of any contractual obligation, my body couldn’t help but move towards the source of that crying. For once, I did something that wasn’t in my best interest by ignoring my targets.”</p><p>“And instead, I rescued <i>him</i>. Wilbur was the baby in that basket. He was abandoned by his parents, the two people in his life that were supposed to be there for him.”</p><p>“As much as I wanted to dump the extra mouth to feed back in the river, I had realized that I had found something, or rather, someone greater than myself to live for. I saw him as a second chance at life, where I would prioritize him over anything else.”</p><p>“I taught him how to read, how to sneak up on targets, how to use the toilet by himself, how to instantly kill a target without making a sound. But I always made one thing clear to him.”</p><p>“Be a good person. Live for something greater than yourself. Help the world become a better place.”</p><p>“That was what I constantly repeated to him. I just wanted Wilbur to avoid the same disillusionment I faced in life. And at some point, I thought I got through to him.”</p><p>“In his early adulthood, he traveled to l’manburg to fight for their revolution against their oppressors. He used all that I taught him to great effect, and as a result, their revolution succeeded. He had even earned himself enough fame and standing to become registered as a servant. “</p><p>“I don’t know why, but after Schlatt won the elections, Wilbur <i>changed</i>. He ended up rallying the craziest of the ex-revolutionaries and the ensuing civil war quite literally burned l'manburg to the ground. I always taught him to be a good person, so why couldn’t he have accepted that Schlatt had won fairly? Wilbur was never greedy or ambitious, so I don’t understand…”</p><p>Antfrost let out a small sigh as he realized part of the problem. </p><p>Oh the sin of staining the canvas that is a child’s mind with one’s ideals.</p><p>“I don’t personally know Wilbur, but may-”</p><p>The servant and master’s heart-to-heart was interrupted by Karl barging into Antfrost’s office. He was panting heavily and was out of breath. Karl let out an exasperated shout.</p><p>“Intruder alert! Two servants have compromised the main gate of the Inbetween! They’re currently in battle with your subordinates, sir!”</p><p>Antfrost would’ve inquired Karl about their identities, but there were only two servants who would be coming to the Inbetween. Ant looked to his servant, who was terrified of the implications of their identities. Ant pitied the broken father, yet he knew they had to press on.</p><p>“Saber and Archer are here. Wilbur is here.”</p><p>“Are you ready, Phil?”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>And the plot has kicked in! I'm kinda conflicted on whether I should edit the warnings or tags to accurately reflect how the story is gonna play out or just leave it as is to avoid major spoilers.</p><p>Anyways, hope y'all have a good day/night &lt;3</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0018"><h2>18. The escape</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This is a pretty beefy chapter and I'm really proud of it. I hope you enjoy &lt;3</p><p>Fair warning, there's gore.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Intruder alert! I need everyone who can fight up in the supply tunnel! Everyone else must evacuate to the emergency shelter!”</p><p>Clay and George had both been working on their analysis of the Holy Grail when several ice ant familiars had begun swarming the Inbetween. All of the ants were repeating these orders to everyone in the Inbetween.</p><p>While they didn’t know the entire situation, the only people who would be intruding in the Inbetween would be their servants. They were finally going to be rescued, despite what Antfrost wanted. Whether or not they wanted to be rescued was another matter entirely.</p><p>George had finally accepted that he should finally fight for his own sake and not his family’s. Yet, he was unsure what he truly wanted anymore. He didn’t hold any wish for the Holy Grail, certainly no wish that would be worth killing others for. While he did want to be cured of the curse, he was content with finding another means of living outside of magecraft if it meant sparing the other masters. </p><p>At the very least, he felt as though Clay needed the Holy Grail. The brunette knew that Clay must be living in similar circumstances as he once did before he moved to Atlasia for the Holy Grail War. George wasn’t entirely sure of Clay’s current goals, but he wanted to believe in the blonde. Whether that was due to sympathy or something more, George didn’t know. Deep down though, George felt bad for potentially denying his servant the chance to wish upon the Grail.</p><p>On the other hand, Clay still did want the Holy Grail. He realized that his family would most likely still treat him as a tool, but that was the only way Clay knew how to live. The only sense of purpose he’s ever had in life was to make his family proud of him, even if that ‘pride’ was just a means to keep him in line.</p><p>Still, he was extremely torn between his duty as a Taken and his genuine love for George. Throughout his research on him before the war, the war itself and their time at the Inbetween, the blonde had fallen head over heels for the brunette. While Clay could not have admitted that at the start of the war, it was becoming harder and harder to find other excuses as to why he was favoring the brunette. </p><p>Why didn’t he attack George on the first day while knowing George was a threat? Why did he spare George during their fight despite having several opportunities to kill him? Why did he feel fluttering in his heart when he noticed how George was warming up to him slightly?</p><p>Clay realized that as much as he wanted to please his family in the hopes of their approval for the sake of his self worth, he wouldn’t be able to live with himself if George couldn’t get his wish. The blonde convinced himself that losing his chance at the wish would be fine if George got it.</p><p>It was at that point that the two had subconsciously made a fatal mistake. While both were willing to lay down their chance at a wish for the other’s sake, neither truly knew what the other wanted. The pair thought that the other still might’ve wanted the Grail. As a result, both Clay and George had resolved themselves to break out along with their servants, despite not wanting the Holy Grail themselves.</p><p>“Guys! Follow me, we need to get to the shelters!”</p><p>Karl had made his way back to the base of the Holy Grail where the two were standing. While Clay didn’t want to hurt Karl, he realized he was most likely going to cuff them with Erebosite again. They wouldn’t risk letting the two masters cooperate with their servants to escape. As Karl approached, Clay readied a time rewind spell to recreate a sword from the past.</p><p>Before he could finish though, an icicle erupted from the ground to stab him in the arm. George saw it coming, and tried to push Clay away from the attack. The icicle was too fast and hit both of the masters’ arms just as George’s hand made contact with Clay’s arm. Instead of stinging pain, the masters were met with a sense of numbness as the icicle enveloped the two’s arms, linking them together, instead of piercing their skin.</p><p>“Sorry, guys. I want to trust you, but I knew you might try to escape during the confusion. Cuff them and take them to solitary confinement.”</p><p>Antfrost’s voice echoed throughout the Inbetween as he approached the two with a squad of magi by his side. Before either of the masters could fight back, the cuffs had already been placed, nullifying any spell they were planning to use. Antfrost’s subordinates swiftly took them away.</p><p>
  <i>Saber. Archer. You two are our only hope..!</i>
</p><p> </p><p>Another shriek of pain erupted through the tunnels as Technoblade cut down another one of Antfrost’s subordinates. Another horde of magi was shot down by Wilbur’s arrows. The two were forcing their way through Antfrost’s men in the only tunnel that led towards the Inbetween. For every magus they killed, another two took his place.</p><p>“There’s no end to them!”</p><p>While none of the magi could pose a threat to neither Technoblade nor Wilbur, they were both feeling fatigued as they were low on magical energy. The two had spent too much time away from their masters, so they didn’t have a steady supply of magical energy. The servants needed to save their masters <i>immediately</i>.</p><p>“Well, Techno?! We’re close enough to the actual vault, all you need to do is buy me some time!”</p><p>Saber nodded as he agreed with Wilbur. The two had agreed that Technoblade would draw attention and deal with most of the enemies with his Noble Phantasm. It was especially effective at killing crowds of people, meaning it would be a much better choice than Wilbur’s Noble Phantasm, which only targets a few people at a time.</p><p>“The reason it’s so hard for me to be nonviolent, it’s because I hear voices. The voices, my comrades, demand blood! There’s no other way, I choose blood!”</p><p>“Blood for the blood god!”</p><p>As Technoblade chanted his Noble Phantasm, a dark cloud formed above everyone in the tunnel. The magi stopped their fighting to gaze at the cloud, confused as to its purpose. Before long, it began to seemingly pour in the tunnel. As the droplets fell, the magi realized that it wasn’t water that was falling. It was pure,dark and destructive magical energy. Each droplet erupted into pitch black, violent explosions that quickly thinned out the small army. No matter how many reinforcements came, the explosions would continue until Technoblade’s energy ran out.</p><p>This Noble Phantasm truly was symbolic of a man who turned into a monster in the name of his comrades.</p><p>“I’ll keep them busy, get to the vault, Archer!”</p><p> </p><p>Phil knew that even if the two were weakened, Saber and Archer would break through eventually. While his orders were to standby near George and Clay, Phil suspected that Archer’s true goal wasn’t to rescue his master. As such, Phil stood by near the base of the Holy Grail and prayed that he was wrong about his son. He desperately wanted to avoid this fight.</p><p>His suspicions were confirmed when Wilbur jumped down to the bottom floor of the Inbetween, in front of the Grail. Phil felt his resolve weaken as he stared at his son. While he wanted to make things right with Wilbur, Wilbur’s eyes told Assassin all he needed to know.</p><p>This wasn’t the Wilbur who couldn’t hurt a fly during his training with Phil. This wasn’t the Wilbur who was compassionate to his fellow men during the revolution. This wasn’t the Wilbur who established one of the first democracies on the planet.</p><p>No, this was the Wilbur who selfishly started a coup against Schlatt after he lost the elections. This was the Wilbur who ended up detonating large caches of TNT during the civil war. This was the Wilbur who couldn’t accept not controlling l’manburg.</p><p>This was who his son turned out to be.</p><p>Still, if he could obtain the Holy Grail along with Ant, Phil could make things right with his son. His only regret would be taken care of. He’d be able to finally rest in peace. Yet, that meant that he’d have to put down his son right here, right now.</p><p>Before Phil even drew his sword, Wilbur immediately cast his Noble Phantasm, an ode to l’manburg. His guitar strings wrapped themselves around the Holy Grail, squeezing it violently. An awful sound echoed throughout the entire Inbetween as the Holy Grail creaked under the strain.</p><p>“Wilbur! What are yo-”</p><p>“Oh, you know exactly what I’m doing, Phil. Isn’t that why you’re defending the Grail instead of George and Clay?”</p><p>Phil felt as though he was stabbed through the heart after hearing the venom in his son’s voice when he spoke his name. He wasn’t even referring to him as a father anymore. Where did it all go wrong? What did Antfrost realize that he hadn’t?</p><p>“Wil, why are you doing this? What do you gain from this?”</p><p>“Hopefully Technoblade succumbs to the magical energy drain from his Noble Phantasm. Once he’s dead, your soul can join him in the Holy Grail. The more magical energy in the Holy Grail, the more violent the resulting reaction if something were to break it. With those two souls, the explosion should easily wipe out the capital if I crush the Grail with my Noble Phantasm.”</p><p>Phil grimaced as he realized that Wilbur was planning the exact thing he suspected him of doing. Wilbur never had a wish for the Holy Grail, this was what he wanted all along. His son wanted to strike back at the world, just like when he annihilated l’manburg during the civil war. The Assassin class servant still couldn’t understand why his son wanted this though. It didn’t help that Wilbur was dodging the question. Before Phil could interrogate his son further, the strings that had now wrapped themselves around the Inbetween began vibrating. Several sound arrows were about to be fired from all directions.</p><p>“Why?! Was it because you were jealous of Schlatt?! Was it because you were hungry for power!?”</p><p>Wilbur couldn’t hide the vitriol that made its way on his face. Even after all this time, his father still pinned the blame on him. He unleashed a volley towards Phil from all of the strings in the Inbetween. Phil may be a talented assassin, but he can’t survive this onslaught for long.</p><p>“Was it because you thought you knew what was best for the people of l’manburg?! PLEASE ANSWER ME, WILBUR!”</p><p>Archer heard the pain in his father’s voice, yet he didn’t answer. As far as he was concerned, he didn’t owe Phil any explanations. Wilbur had only gotten here because of his upbringing, it was Phil’s sin to bear.</p><p>Phil dodged the first volley of arrows, only to be met with more barrages. While he had survived the first one unscathed, the arrows were quickly overwhelming him. The servant was being cut up from every angle, only managing to block the arrows that were about to strike his heart or brain. Still, he bore the pain as this was his sin to carry.</p><p>“I..thought I gave you everything you needed! I tried to teach you how to avoid the same mistakes I made in life! I… just wanted you to be happy!”</p><p>Wilbur felt an emotion surge through his heart that he hadn’t felt in years. Anger. Pure, unadulterated anger at the man who claimed to be his father. The same man who left him to fend for himself during the revolution. The same man who was out to kill him once he started the l’maburgian civil war. The same man who should hate his son since he became the very antithesis of what his father wanted.</p><p>“Tch! That’s rich coming from you! You trained me to become a hero for your own damn sake! You just wanted me to become the hero you never could to save your own conscience! The moment shit hit the fan during the revolution, you left! And when you couldn’t bear the look at the consequences, you were hired to kill me during the civil war!”</p><p>Despite the countless lacerations across his body, the thing that hurt Phil the most as he jumped from string to string, avoiding as many projectiles as he could, was the hatred his son had for him. Was this really what Wilbur thought of him?</p><p>“I’ve already long accepted I’m going to hell for my actions Wilbur! I’ve killed dozens of people just so I could keep food on the table! I don’t care about the rest of the world, I just wanted you to avoid the pain of just living for yourself and nothing more!”</p><p>Wilbur couldn’t accept his father’s answer. His father was a callous man who only raised him so he could save his father’s conscience by doing good. He never cared about him. No one ever did. Everyone left him regardless. Wilbur fired off more projectiles, this time also using the strings still in his guitar to personally shoot down Phil.</p><p>“That’s what everyone said! That’s what my real parents said when I went to assassinate them! That’s what Eret said during the revolution! That’s what my l’manburgian comrades said after we won! Just like you Phil, they all told me they gave a shit about me, but the moment I stopped being fucking convenient for them they threw me away! My parents left me to drown in a river! Eret sold me out to the enemy during the revolution! The rest of my friends submitted to Schlatt! YOU WERE COMING TO KILL ME DURING THE CIVIL WAR!”</p><p>Phil had never heard his son’s voice in this much pain before. Wilbur was uninjured physically, but he sounded like he was in agony for a long time and Phil had never realized. Phil realized that this was what Antfrost was about to warn him about. Phil was so keen on keeping Wilbur from making the same mistakes he would’ve made, yet he failed to account that Wilbur was his own person and would have his own fears and anxieties. </p><p>When Phil looked towards Wilbur earlier, he only saw a deranged man who was once his son. Yet, despite the fact that Archer was tearing his father apart both physically and mentally, Phil was finally beginning to see Wilbur for who he really was. He was just a child who desperately longed for love and for a sense of belonging, but due to his awful experiences with betrayal, he’s convinced himself that people only care for him as a tool. That he’d be abandoned again and again whenever his usefulness ran out.</p><p>“Wilbur, I only let you live by yourself when the revolution started since I thought you were finally becoming a man you could be proud of. I wanted you to take your own path without me in the way. When I accepted the assassination contract during the war to kill you, I only did it to keep anyone else from taking it, I never intended on killing you! You have every right to be angry, everything I did was for the happiness of the person I thought my son was, and not the actual you. You’ve been betrayed over and over and I failed to realize how much that affected you.”</p><p>“A bit late to apologize, don’t you think?! You keep spouting nonsense on how you only care about me, yet here you are, trying to put me to death! If you really gave a shit, wouldn’t you just kneel down and let me kill you so I could finally do something for myself for once!”</p><p>Phil solemnly nodded in disagreement. Even if Wilbur lashed out after the elections, Phil knew his son was still a good person at heart. His son had just been betrayed and abandoned so many times until he had snapped. Yet, now that Wilbur was trying to do the same to Atlasia by crushing the Holy Grail and causing it to explode, Phil could see the tears flow down his son’s face. In spite of it all, his son truly was conflicted between getting back at the cruel world that made him this way and his genuine compassion for humanity.</p><p>Unfortunately, Phil was so caught up in blocking arrows that he failed to notice that some of the strings had made their way to one of the balconies in the Inbetween. Wilbur forcefully broke off the balcony with his Noble Phantasm and hurled the balcony towards his father. Phil had taken too much damage from the earlier barrages and was still busy with deflecting arrows to dodge.</p><p>With a sickening crunch, the balcony fell down on Phil, crushing his right leg and severing the other. Phil could feel himself losing consciousness, his skull having partially given way and his brain had been damaged by that attack. Still, he needed to do one last thing before the last glimmer of his new life disappeared.</p><p>“Wilbur...I can’t let you get away with this...But it isn’t because I care about humanity...It isn’t because I care about Atlasia...It isn’t because I care about my master...I just want to stop you from doing something you’ll regret again...I’m not lying about loving you above all else, Wil...You look like in so much pain even though you’re about to win by destroying the Holy Grail after I die...I can’t let that happen to you…”</p><p>“No matter how many sins you commit. No matter how many mistakes you make. No matter how many regrets you have. I will always put you above the world. For I am your dad, and you are my son.”</p><p>“This is my final flight, heavenly elytra!”</p><p>Despite being moments away from death, Phil activated his Noble Phantasm. Wings erupted from his back and with an extremely powerful flap, Phil tore himself from underneath the rubble, flying towards Wilbur with a sword in hand.</p><p>By this point, Phil had lost too much blood. He could barely see, let alone fly properly. He was sure that Wilbur still had all his strings ready to fire off a final wave to finish him off. Yet, no attack came. His son didn’t dodge as a sword was plunged through his heart. Phil held onto his son’s now dying body in one last hug.</p><p>“God...I’m sorry...Wilbur...Could you ever find it...in your heart…to forgive me…? I...can’t exactly use the Holy Grail anymore in this state...So I was wondering if... instead of wishing for it...we could just be...a family...again...”</p><p>Despite expecting more hatred, Phil was surprised when he heard his son’s somber tone.</p><p>“Even after all this time..? Even after what I’ve done..?”</p><p>“Of course, Wil... I failed you...in life...so the least I could do...is…”</p><p>Phil didn’t finish his last sentence as he succumbed to his wounds. His body faded away into nothingness as his soul returned to the Holy Grail. Wilbur fell to the ground as he started fading away as well.</p><p>“If...we ever...do get summoned...again...We...can...live together again...right...Dad...?”</p><p>With one last breath, Wilbur faded from this world.</p><p> </p><p>George was worried sick. Now that he was stuck with Clay in solitary confinement, all he could do was hope that their servants could save them. While he could hear all sorts of sounds outside, he couldn’t exactly make out what was happening outside their cell. Still, apparently it’s gotten bad, as the guards that were assigned to defend their cell had left to presumably help in the battle.</p><p>George’s theorising was interrupted when he felt an extreme, searing pain on one of his hands. While his body was still mostly encased in ice, he could still view the back of his hand in his position. </p><p>And what he saw sent a wave of sadness, shock and terror through him. The back of his hand, where there used to be command seals, was entirely blank. The one sign that he was a master was now gone.</p><p>
  <i>That means...Wilbur...no...he couldn’t have...</i>
</p><p>A loud crash echoed through the cell as someone kicked down the door. The two masters smiled seeing the person who had broken through the door.</p><p>“Saber! You made it! Can you get us out?”</p><p>Technoblade nodded and carried the ice that encased the two. He didn’t have the magical energy to melt the ice since he was still weak. While he could break them apart with his sword, they were also cuffed by Erebosite. His sword was still made out of magical energy, so it’d be useless against those cuffs. The servant was forced to haul both of them while they were stuck together.</p><p>Everyone in the tunnel leading to the Inbetween had been massacred by the servant. The magi who weren’t stationed at the tunnel were quickly mustered to go track the rogue servant down, but he had managed to sneak past them before they could reach the tunnel and find him.</p><p>Technoblade quickly jumped from balcony to balcony, swiftly making his way up towards the upper floor of the Inbetween, where the tunnel leading outside was. As he made a final sprint towards the exit, he could feel something pull back on his frozen master.</p><p>He gazed back and saw some surviving magi who had followed him towards the exit. They were manipulating gravity with their magecraft, pulling the masters back towards them. If Technoblade wasn’t already drastically weakened by his fight earlier, he could easily have broken free, but he was too weak to escape with them pulling him like this.</p><p>“Guys! Close the main gate! He’s weak, we can finish him off if we trap him inside!”</p><p>The gate to the tunnel had begun to descend to close off Technoblade’s only escape. He wouldn’t have the strength to fight off the remaining magi, so he needed to escape <i>now</i>. </p><p>While he didn’t have any way to increase his strength, he did have a way to reduce the strength required to carry his payload against the gravity field. He just needed to reduce the payload’s weight.</p><p>And unfortunately for George, Clay was far more important to Technoblade than he’d ever be.<br/>Technoblade drew his sword and George’s face distorted in fear as he realized what fate he would be meeting soon. Technoblade can’t pierce Erebosite since he’s a servant, but he can still cut through flesh and bone. Clay was Technoblade’s master, so the only option would be to cut down the brunette so the remaining master and his servant could escape.</p><p>As Technoblade brought down his blade to sever George’s arm and doom him to remain in the Inbetween another person screamed out an order.</p><p>“By my command spell, save George, Technoblade! Get him out of here!”</p><p>As the command spell’s effects kicked in, Technoblade changed his target from George to Clay. Before George could protest, Technoblade’s sword came down onto Clay’s arm at the elbow, rending flesh and bone.</p><p>George would never forget the scream that echoed throughout the Inbetween that day.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Oooh baby, cliffhanger time! </p><p>I really hope you guys liked these interpretations of Phil and Wilbur! Lmk what you thought of the chapter :)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0019"><h2>19. Desperate Alliances</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I can't decide whether I prefer writing dnf or clingy duo so why not both this chapter?</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <i>It all went by in a blur.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Clay’s blood curdling scream of pain.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Technoblade forcibly dragging me away from Clay.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>The gates of the Inbetween closing behind us, separating us.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Clay’s arm was still dangling on the Erebosite cuffs as I was being hauled away from the Inbetween and into the forest and towards the mountains around Atlasia.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>No matter how much I was kicking, screaming and begging for Technoblade to let me go so we can go get Clay, the command spell’s effects were absolute. Technoblade was taking me to god knows where while Clay’s still in the Inbetween without one of his arms.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Why? Why did you save me Clay? You had everything you needed to escape... All you needed to do was to let your servant cut me down…</i>
</p><p>
  <i>I don’t know why you became a part of this Grail War. Whether it was for your own family’s sake or whether you had a wish of your own, you ended up choosing me over that wish…</i>
</p><p>
  <i>My hunch was right. Clay’s nothing like what my family portrayed him as. If there’s one thing I’m certain of, it’s that Clay isn’t willing to shed needless blood for the Grail. It’s either that, or he’s choosing me of all people over the Grail.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>I’m not sure which alternative I prefer.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Since Wilbur is dead, I’ve already officially lost the War. Yet, I feel like I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if I left Clay to rot back in the Inbetween. It’d be so easy to leave this all behind me. Even so, I couldn’t keep certain thoughts from emerging.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>I wanted to talk more to Clay. I wanted to spend time with Clay. I wanted Clay to get out. I wanted Clay to win the War. I had already come to terms with giving up the Holy Grail to him if we ended up escaping.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>I didn’t understand why I thought those things. Or at least, I didn’t want to understand it. Yet, now that I’m away from him after spending, I’m starting to understand…</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Beneath that awful mask of arrogance, there was someone else who never had any agency in their life. Someone else who only walked the path their family had laid out for them. Someone else who had to mask his true feelings by assuming a persona. Someone else who realized they couldn’t kill the one person they were meant to kill. Someone else who just wanted to be free from their parents, but never had the strength to seize their freedom.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Even though I couldn’t admit it, I saw myself in Clay. We had our differences, obviously, but we both realized that there was only one other person on the planet that truly understood what we were going through. We both convinced ourselves we wanted the Holy Grail for our family because of some conflict neither of us were invested in. Yet, deep down, I realize we both just want to be happy. We just want to live our own lives as our real selves without being a tool for our family.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>I barely got to know the real Clay before my escape. When we were working together for Ant, I got to see him slowly reveal bits of his personality without the pretense of us being enemies. His joking comments about my height. His stupid tea kettle wheezes. His dumb borderline flirtatious remarks. It was all so...addicting...</i>
</p><p>
  <i>I...want to see more of him. I want to hear more of him. I want to know more of him…</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Is that how you feel about me Clay? Is that how you found the strength to give up on what your life has been leading up to for my sake?</i>
</p><p>
  <i>I don’t know how I would call this feeling, but whatever the reason may be, I want to save Clay. I can sort out the rest of my feelings later, but for now I need to make a plan to get him out of there.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Since Wilbur’s gone, I’m going to need new allies if I want to rescue him. It should be safe to assume Technoblade’s on my side when it comes to saving his master. Still, the two of us have no way of breaking into the Inbetween now that the entire thing is sealed shut by Erebosite. We need someone who is both willing and capable of saving Clay.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>My thoughts are interrupted as I notice a house in the distance in the mountains. It seems Techno has the same idea as I do. I recall Clay mentioning the only friend he had since childhood who lived in the mountains. Asking him for help is risky since he’s also a master.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Still, I’m going to have to bet on whether or not he’s willing to put Clay’s safety over his wish. At best, Techno and I gain a new ally to rescue Clay with. At worst, he finishes the job he left unfinished on day one of the War and tramples us to death with Henry.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>I gulp away any fears I have as Techno carries me to the cottage. I see the other master on the rooftop and he glares back at me. Strangely, there wasn’t any malice behind his gaze, despite the fact that he’s already tried to kill me before. I can’t keep my nerves under control like this.</i>
</p><p>“H-Hey, Nick.”</p><p> </p><p>“Berserker, stop this!”</p><p>The young man’s cries went unheard as his servant was rampaging through the streets of Atlasia at night. There were hordes of civilians who were running out of their houses as buildings were being leveled by Berserker.</p><p>“He’s over there!”</p><p>The master turned around to see guards approach him and his servant. He didn’t want any more blood being spilt. He didn’t want to see Berserker in so much pain, but he didn’t want him to hurt anyone either.</p><p>Nothing could be done as a squad of guards readied a volley of arrows to fire at the brunette. Berserker was already blindly wrecking more of the city and was thus unaware of the incoming attacks. His master wasn’t a fighter, he was just a paperboy. He didn’t understand where Berserker suddenly came from and what the red tattoos on his hand were. Why did his life turn upside down all of a sudden?</p><p>Suddenly, the sound of galloping rang through the city. A wave of dust and debris crashed into the guards. As the dust settled, the source of the wave as well as the guards it had trampled came into view. A blonde boy sat atop of a fearsome bull, seemingly commanding it without fear.</p><p>“Oi, you gonna fuckin’ use a command spell?!”</p><p>“LANGUAGE!”</p><p>“Well?”</p><p>“...What’s a command spell?”</p><p>Tommy couldn’t help but facepalm at the absurdity of the situation. He’d been keeping an eye on the servant who looked suspiciously similar to Tubbo under the guise of scouting for his master. From what he could tell, the master had very little control over his servant. It didn’t help that Berserker sometimes goes on rampages for no discernable reason despite seeming like a completely normal person most of the time.</p><p>
  <i>Just what in the fuck is going on?</i>
</p><p>The blonde didn’t get any time to analyse the situation as Berserker charged straight at him. Tommy couldn’t let himself be killed, but he didn’t want to kill the other servant either. </p><p>He didn’t want to hurt someone who reminded him all too much of his best friend.</p><p>“Say something like ‘By my command spell, I order you!’ or some shit like that! Hurry the fuck up!”</p><p>As much as the master wanted to reprimand the stranger for his coarse language, he was desperate to try and prevent any more casualties.</p><p>“By my command spell, please stop, Berserker!”</p><p>The brunette instantly stopped in his tracks. No matter a servant’s emotional or mental state, an order by command spell is absolute. Before the master could ask Tommy about these ‘command spells’, more shouting was heard as guards were approaching yet again.</p><p>“We need to get the fuck out of here, get on!”</p><p>Too panicked to decide against trusting a stranger, the master climbed aboard the bull and motioned his now obedient servant to follow. The trio escaped quickly into the outskirts of Atlasia, far away from any guard. They hid themselves among the trees to recuperate.</p><p>“Wh-who are you? What’s the deal with Berserker? Wh-”</p><p>“Shhh, I know it’s kind of a dick move to answer a question with another question, but I really do need to know this: Are you a magus?”</p><p>“Magus? You mean as in someone who can do magic? I’ve heard about them, but I didn’t think they were real… I don’t know anything about magic…”</p><p>Tommy let out a disappointed sigh. Out of all masters, the servant who <i>may</i> be his one and only Tubbo was stuck with the one who didn’t even know magecraft. He wondered how such a person could even summon a servant. Maybe there weren’t enough masters who voluntarily joined the Holy Grail War so a servant was forcibly summoned and bound to a master? Still, he had to make the most out of it. He had already decided to help this servant because he couldn’t handle having to kill a Tubbo look-alike. Tommy decided to inform them about the situation they were in.</p><p>“S-so Berserker has to k-kill other people before they k-kill us?”</p><p>“Look, I know it sounds hard, but-”</p><p>“I won’t do it. I can’t.”</p><p>Tommy and the master, who had introduced himself as Darryl, were interrupted by Berserker. Despite having killed innocents earlier, his usual demeanor had returned. He spoke calmly, but firmly.</p><p>“I told Dar-, master this already, but I don’t remember much of my previous life. The only things I do remember are that I really wanted to be a good person and that I needed to make up with someone. I don’t have any other wish.”</p><p>“Y-yeah. You’re a good person, Berserker. At least, this part of you is.”</p><p>Darryl spoke nervously, as if he was expecting Berserker to lose control again. Tommy still didn’t fully understand the situation. Darryl had told him that Berserker has another voice in his head, someone that tries to get him to do bad things. Otherwise, Berserker acts completely calm, if not a bit timid, but otherwise perfectly normal.</p><p>Between the servant’s memory loss, the master who didn’t know magecraft, the voice in the servant’s head and the seemingly split personality he had, Tommy had no clue as to what could’ve gone wrong when Berserker was summoned. And this is all happening to someone who looks frighteningly like Tubbo. Tommy did have one hypothesis, but he didn’t want to jump to conclusions before he did something reckless. His Noble Phantasm could only work once.</p><p>“Tommy, was it? You said you were a servant as well, right? So how come you haven’t attacked us?”</p><p>“...You remind me too much of a dear friend, that’s all. I can’t be a good person like what you’re striving to be. I just wanted to help you strangers out because of a promise I made.”</p><p>“Aww, that’s sweet of you, Tommy. I believe in both you and Berserker!”</p><p>Tommy smiled weakly at Darryl and Berserker. He waved goodbye as he hopped on his mount and prepared to go back to his master’s side. Before he could leave however, one of Henry’s hind legs was grabbed by Berserker.</p><p>“Tommy? I don’t really know why I feel this way...but...I think your friend would be proud of you. If he wanted to be selfless like I do, I think he’d appreciate that you’re <i>trying</i> to change your ways by helping someone else before yourself.”</p><p>Tommy couldn’t respond as he was conflicted and his heart was wracked in turmoil. </p><p>
  <i>Why am I such a half-assed piece of shit? Why can’t I just win the Holy Grail War and bring Tubbo back that way?  But would I be able to kill Berserker if I chose that method? Would Tubbo be okay with an ending like that? Would I be able to face Tubbo if I brought him back like that?</i>
</p><p>Sensing his owner’s panic, Henry forced himself free from Berserker’s grasp and fled into the mountains.</p><p>“Tommy, wait! Did I say something wrong?! TOMMY!”</p><p>“I’m sorry, Berserker. I can’t ever be the person you or Tubbo want me to be. I’ll always be selfish…”</p><p>
  <i>Why couldn’t Tubbo have become a proper servant instead of me?</i>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Jokes on you, this chapter was obviously set up for Georgenap.</p><p>Okay, but in all seriousness hope you enjoy George's rambling about his totally hetero fascination about his future boyfr- I mean bestfriend ;)</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This is literally my first fic ever, so criticism is much appreciated.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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